China Teacup
by bostonrainbow825
Summary: After an accident Maura's memories get a little jumbled and Jane finds herself playing along at first, only to find herself wanting the fantasy to be reality... but what will happen when Maura recovers and her memories fix themselves. Rizzles
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup**

"Detective Rizzoli, could I speak to you for a minute in the break room?" Susie Chang unexpectedly seemed to appear to suddenly at the brunette's desk at just before nine in the morning. The appearance was completely out of character as Jane knew there was no case they were working on, and thus no reason for the ME's senior technician to be at her desk requesting to speak to her privately. On top of that the usually nervous woman seemed somehow even more than edgy.

"Okay." Jane got up out of her chair, casting a quick glance at Korsak who merely raised a sleepy eyebrow at her before she followed the shorter woman down towards the break room as requested.

"I don't want to seem nosy, because clearly Dr. Isles is my boss and I have no authority to question her schedule but it is just so unlike her. I mean normally by now I would have had at least two emails with outlined details of what she requires from the lab, and a voice mail with other specific instructions as to when we can expect her and directions on whether I should call Dr. Pike if there is a body that needs attending." Susie was clearly stressed as her voice was fast and slightly high in tone. "And I did try calling her, but her phone went right to voice mail, and she hasn't answered my texts and clearly I don't want to start a panic if it's unnecessary..."

"Get to the point Susie, are you suggesting Maura isn't in?" Jane's eyebrow arched higher than was normal.

"She isn't in Detective, she was supposed to be in at 7:30, we were scheduled to do a small inventory consolidation and like I already outlined, Dr. Isles never just doesn't show up. I get emails, texts, voice mails... all very detailed, all very outlined on what is going on, even when she's had to unexpectedly take personnel time." Susie fretted. "I was wondering if perhaps you knew where she was?"

Jane's hand went immediately to the phone on her hip and pulled it out of its holder.

"Leave it with me, I'll have an answer for you soon." She held her other hand up to the smaller woman as she walked off in the other direction having already dialed the blonde's number and having the phone held up to her ear.

To Jane's dismay the phone didn't pick up as she had probably expected, but instead went to voice mail. Maura's pleasant and professional voice explaining who she was and that a message could be left or the call could be directed to her office. This happened the next two times that Jane tried in succession.

The last time it happened Jane huffed a hard sigh.

"Maur, I'm coming over, if you pick this message up before I get there call me back okay." She let the worry she felt flood her tone as she walked straight towards the exit, pausing only to look in at Korsak. "Maur's not turned up for work I'm going to check her place, can you keep calling her number and check downstairs for her in case she appears?" She asked of the sergeant.

"Of course Jane." Korsak nodded moving to pull his phone off his belt. "I'll ask reception to give me a heads up if she clears security." He urged her to continue knowing instantly that 'not showing up' wasn't the ME's usual calling card.

-x-

That she had a key to Maura's townhouse was something Jane usually didn't need to take advantage of, but when she'd found the door locked she had first knocked and when no response had come keyed herself in to find thankfully that the townhouse was as spotless as it always was.

She called out for the blonde, checking all the rooms and didn't find anything out of place until she came to the master bedroom and laid out on the made bed was a beautiful black and white dress, with a short black jacket and even a lacy underwear set and a pair of white heels. Clearly the ME had planned her outfit for the day and laid it out to get dressed but it was also clear she hadn't made it to the point of her morning when she put it on.

This made Jane frown even harder however as she turned and moved back through to the main room her eyes flicking around the kitchen and hall. The latter area making her gaze stop. The blonde's sneakers were missing. Hurrying back to the bedroom, Jane pulled open her closet, discovering that as well as the missing sneakers, the ME's running gear was gone.

Pulling her phone free from its holster again Jane called Korsak.

"Vince has there been any calls of accidents involving joggers in or around the running path between Maura's place and Green Park, or around the park? Maura's not here but her running gear is gone. She went out for her run this morning but never made it back." She verbalized clearly.

"Give me a minute Jane..." Korsak could be heard putting down his cell phone and picking up his land line, the conversation nothing more than a few mumbles to her and a moment longer of pause before another few mumbles. "Dispatch has a single female jogger struck just outside the west side entrance of the park but the attending officer hasn't logged a victim name, she was immediately taken to Mass. General, dispatch doesn't have any details on her condition... I'll meet you there." He didn't expect anything less than Jane to head directly there and he didn't intend on doing anything less himself considering this could be the ME.

"Okay.." Jane was a little thrown but immediately just starting heading for the door.

-x-

"Detective, I don't know what to tell you." The uniformed officer looked down at his notes with a frown. "I got a call out that a jogger had been struck by the west entrance, when I arrived there was a small crowd around her, the driver and the car was gone. She was unconscious, EMT were already on route and arrived almost immediately. They checked and couldn't find any ID, I took witness statements but all they could tell me was a new model luxury sedan probably a Lexus but maybe a BMW." He looked at his notes again. "My C.O told me to hang around for awhile and she if she woke up to find out who she was or to at least get the first reports from the doctor's on her condition." He looked down the hall. "She's over in here, you want to see if you know her?" He quirked an eyebrow unsure why a homicide detective had suddenly come through the emergency doors and made a beeline at him like he was in trouble.

"Yes, Yes I do." Jane said agitated by the fact that he couldn't give her a clear answer.

He nodded again and led her over to the room that had one wall of curtains to separate it from the nurses desk and main area. He held the curtain open for Jane letting her pass inside.

"Can I help you?" A middle aged brunette nurse looked up from where she was fixing the IV line that ran into Maura's arm. The blonde had a large angry bruise already forming across her forehead and her head was resting on a bandage that was spotted with blood that was visible marring her light hair. Her right arm was in an air cast and there were a half dozen monitors around her.

Jane looked at him giving him what she was pretty much sure was a 'death stare' before she fixed her eyes on the broken and bruised ME.

"Her name is Dr. Maura Isles, she is the Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Massachusetts, and you better damn well be giving her the best treatment you can, bar none." Jane growled as she ignored any 'back off' vibes the other nurse was giving her to press closer to the bed, putting her hand lightly on Maura's uninjured arm. "Maur, hey, it's me, Jane, want to open those beautiful eyes of yours for me?" She encouraged, her voice a totally different so almost purr as she addressed the blonde.

"She's been in and out the last few minutes." The nurse took a breath when she saw the very clear badge on Jane's hip and gave a curt smile. "She's due to go to MRI any minute to check her head injury, I'll come back in with some paperwork so you can help us fill in the blanks on her chart." The nurse excused herself.

"J-... Jane?" Maura's hoarse voice tried to say the word but it came out more as a whisper before her tongue came out to lick her dry lips. "Why... I taste blood..." She tried to lift her immobilized arm up towards her face as her breathing sped up a little.

"You were in an accident, don't try to talk or move." Jane stroked her hand lightly on the blonde's arm and intercepted the hand with her other one. "You have a head injury and a broken arm I think. Your ID and phone were taken, so no one knew who you were to inform anyone, Susie called the alarm that you weren't in and I came looking for you." She summarized, still gently stroking. "But you're safe and they're going to take good care of you and I'm staying right by your side every minute." She vowed.

"Of course you are." Maura's hazel eyes finally opened, blinking at few times to bring Jane into focus before a soft loving smile spread onto her features. "Where else would my snuggle bunny be?" She figured out that her other arm, though had an IV in it wasn't immobilized. "Can I have a kiss, my head hurts?" She reached to put her hand on Jane's arm and pull her closer.

"Of course you can." Jane smiled slightly, figuring the blonde just felt the need for a little reassurance, she leaned aiming to press her lips to the ME's forehead.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." Maura apologized moving so that Jane's trajectory was completely changed as she made sure it was her lips not her forehead that pressed to Jane's.

Jane's eyebrow quirked as she found herself kissing soft lips all be it briefly.

"You're still scaring me..." The brunette admitted, pulling back and when she saw the frown begin to pull on Maura's face she quickly shook her own and continued. "Because we don't know what happened or how bad everything is." She moved her 'free hand' to brush over blonde hair. "We're waiting on the MRI machine, and X-ray..." She added. "I won't be happy until I know that you're 100% safe."

"I'm fine." Maura tried to reassure her slipping her hand into Jane's. "I doubt that I have more than a mid grade concussion and considering how my head feels possibly a contusion but no skull fracture. My wrist may be broken or it may just be this air cast..." She gave a softer frown at it. "I... I know you probably need a statement but..." She squinted slightly. "I don't remember the vehicle, I just remember I was checking my watch to see my time as I left the park to head home to get ready for work and then... pain." She squeezed Jane's hand harder. "How..." Her mind tried to piece things together as only Dr. Isles' brain could. "How did you know how to find me? You said my phone was stolen?"

"Stop trying to piece things together." Jane moved to perch on the side of the bed smiling tenderly at the effort Maura was putting into it. "When Susie said you hadn't gotten into work, I checked round at your place, your outfit for the day was out on the bed, but your jogging clothes weren't in the laundry, and your sneakers were missing, from that I knew you'd never made it back from your morning run." Jane explained. "Then it was just a check at the local hospitals and call ins for a female jogger without ID brought in after 6am this morning on the Green Park route." She explained softly, moving Maura's hand onto her lap. "I'll always find you."

"I know you will." Maura was visibly comforted both emotionally and physically by the move. "You're my knight in a Red Sox hoodie." She teased turning her achy body a little to press her one leg more around Jane's body. "Is it okay if I close my eyes till they take me for tests? I can't believe how much my head hurts." She admitted with a soft whimper.

"Of course it is." Jane instantly agreed to the idea. "And as soon as they know exactly what's going on I'll make sure they give you all the pain medication you can take." She assured her. "And when you can I'll take you home." She leaned in and pressed her lips lightly against blonde hair.

"Mmmm you playing nurse for the next few days might be worth this headache." Maura tried to tease pulling Jane's hand closer to her body to cuddle into it in exchange for knowing she couldn't just cuddle into Jane herself. "Does it come with an outfit?" She gave a soft amused grin then grimaced as she shifted her sore arm too much.

"Probably not." Jane tried not to look too weirded out by the blonde's words. "PVC would be bad for the baby right?"

"It would, too confining." Maura agreed instantly. "I'm so glad you weren't with me this morning, if either of you had been hurt..." Instantly her hazel eyes opened and were flush with tears as the physical state she was in translated to what might have happened to the brunette.

"Hey, hey." Jane moved a little high on the bed and leaned her body closer. "We weren't..." She moved the hand she held a little, for some reason putting it closer to her stomach. "Everything in there is just like we left it last night." She offered in an up beat tone. "Though we're going back to running together, at least until I get too big to run."

"Okay." Maura sniffled a little more and settled her hand flat against Jane's stomach clearly comforted by the move. Closing her eyes she didn't really notice the nurse returning.

"The paperwork I told you about." The nurse put a clipboard down beside Jane looking at Maura. "They'll be taking you to MRI soon Dr. Isles." She said softly to her patient moving to check the machines.

"Thank you, my partner can fill out anything you need, please make a note I give you full permission for her to discuss anything with my physicians about my care and any decisions can be made by her." She rubbed Jane's stomach. "I told you we needed to sort out paperwork, you should have papers to show them." Her logical brain noted.

"Is there a doctor I can talk to directly about her care?" Jane looked at the nurse. "Maura is a VERY special person and I want to make sure she gets everything she needs." She made sure to keep eye contact with her as she nodded silently to Maura reaching for the clipboard, hoping to make it obvious that she wanted to talk without Maura hearing.

"Of course Officer." The nurse nodded. "I'll page the Doctor to speak to you as soon as he's available." She agreed. "Oh your driver is here to take you to Imaging." She waved the orderly in.

"You'll be here when I get back?" Maura didn't yet pull her hand back off Jane's stomach.

"Of course I will, both of us." Jane smiled.

"Take care of Mommy..." Maura rubbed Jane's stomach one last time. "Take care of baby..." She opened her eyes to look at Jane blowing her a kiss as the stretcher rattled as the orderly took the brakes off. "Try not to worry, I'm sure its nothing."

-x-

"How is she?" Korsak was waiting outside by the nurses station when Jane came walking out after Maura's stretcher was wheeled away towards Imaging. He immediately moved up to the Detective's side and put a reassuring hand on her arm.

"We won't know until after the tests, she hit her head, hard." Jane's scowl was severe. "I think maybe there's something swelling in there... Maybe a fracture or something..." She fretted. "She... she thinks we're..." She stopped her frown still pronounced worry lacing her words and tone. "They need to do tests."

"She thinks we're what? Aliens?" Korsak pushed her to explain. "I had a buddy in High School took a hit once in a football game so hard he thought he was Superman for three days."

"You did?" Jane cocked her eyebrow focusing on him for a second. "Was he okay?"

"Yeah, it took some time and we had to keep him away from ledges but... he was okay." He shrugged. "Now what did Maura say? She woke up and talked to you didn't she?"

"Yes." Jane confirmed easily. "She doesn't remember the hit." She made clear from the start. "At least not yet." She clarified. "But she..." She hesitated. "Thinks we're dating... me and her."

Korsak looked at her for a moment without giving away his thoughts before he face broke into a bright smile.

"You had me worried for a minute." He gave a soft chuckle. "She's just a little scrambled up in there, easy mistake to make, new officers on the way up into the BRIC read you two wrong all the time." He thought he was being reassuring.

Jane stalled for a moment and looked at Vince, frowning just slightly.

"They do?" She asked, quirking her eyebrow. "I suppose it could happen." She continued to muse not giving Korsak the chance to answer. "I just... I'm worried that with Maura doing it it means something more... She's always so logical and serious." Jane continued. "I'm just worried it means she's really hurt." She pushed her hand up through her hair.

"We don't know what it means, we wait until the test results come in and whatever they are we'll get through it." Vince assured her. "That she's awake and was talking to you, even if she's a little mixed up about your relationship... is a good sign Jane." He underlined for her. "And considering how close you both are, it's an easy mix up, makes more sense then thinking your Superman." He gave a soft laugh. "Look I'm going wait here with you till we get news but I'm going to call Frankie so he can update the Lieutenant and your brother can agitate the waters to make sure everyone is treating this with the top priority it needs to find this son of a bitch."

"Thank you, I'm going to find somewhere to get myself some natural sugar, and then find someone to talk to about Maura." The detective groaned slightly. "Rizzoli junior didn't like mornings when everything went well, this one is really not gelling. Why do hospitals have to smell?" She put her hand on her stomach with another groan.

"You stay put and wait for the doctor, I'll go hunt you food." Korsak assured her. "I'll get something to make Junior settle." He winked at her and started to head off towards the front of the hospital.

-x-

"Jane! JANIE!" Angela suddenly rushed through the emergency room making a beeline to her daughter carrying a take out bag from the Cafe. "How is she? Have you heard anything?" She immediately engulfed her daughter in a hug.

Jane was so unsettled by everything that had so far happened that she didn't even resist her mothers embrace, instead she shook her head against her mother's shoulder.

"She's still in imaging." Jane's throat tightened.

"But Vince said she was awake and you talked to her?" Angela questioned continuing to hold Jane close when she didn't pull away, rubbing her hand on her daughter's back to try and soothe her.

"She was and I did, but..." She puled away at last with a frown. "That kind of made me worry more as she thought we were together Ma. That we were..." She offered.

"Together... as like dating?" Angela checked softly that they had the same definition and the brunette nodded.

"I think somethings swelling in there Ma." Jane's face crumpled.

"Janie, don't be a pessimist." Angela disagreed instantly. "Maura needs nothing but our good thoughts and prayers right now." She underlined clearly with worried emotion in her voice. "Maybe the concussion just has her mixed up a bit that's all, you and her are so close, and with all she's been worrying about the baby, it just needs time to reset after the accident." She tried to refocus her "Look I brought something for you to eat, Vince said the hospital smell was affecting you... bunny pancakes, with lightly buttered toast, and scrambled eggs the new way you like them." She waggled the bag.

Jane looked at the bag for a moment and then breathed out with a sigh.

"Someone hit her and then took all her things and left her Ma. She could have died." Jane didn't take the food and paced away.

"I know baby... but from what Vince told me if you hadn't have gone to her place no one would have known yet who she was." Angela tried to reassure her putting the bag down and following her the few steps. "She would be alone and scared but now she knows you're here and that you'll take care of her." She reached out to touch Jane's arm again. "I know you're worried about what is wrong but we have to wait until the people who know can tell us one way or the other. Now, Maura would want you to eat, to take care of you and the baby, you know I'm right." She pushed softly. "In fact if you and her were together she'd be beside herself if you weren't looking after the two of you, so help relieve her worry so she can focus on herself."

Jane breathed out slightly hard and then nodded.

"I know and you're right." She admitted. "And I don't mind what she thinks about the two of us, I just want her to be okay."

"I know Janie, so do I." Angela assured her softly. "And can I suggest you don't tell the doctor's that you're not together with her."

"I can't not tell them. How do tell them I'm worried about her and give them the evidence if I can't tell them what that is?" Jane blinked her eyes wide at her mother.

"Okay but it's just if you tell them then you won't be entitled to get all her medical information, or make decisions about her care... you'll have to try and find out what country Constance is in and then probably deal with a lawyer making decisions until Constance can get here." Angela fretted softly and her words caused Jane to look even more horrified.

"No, she's our family we can make decisions and get her care." She took a breath and looked over her shoulder towards the main nurses station. "Okay so I don't tell them." She agreed.

"What about you just ask the doctor about the idea of her not getting all the details right?" Angela questioned softly.

"Yeah there are ways I can ask without telling." Jane calmed down slightly. "You said you brought eggs?" She looked at her mother with sad worried brown eyes.

"Scrambled, guaranteed to be ungooey and not turn your stomach." Angela nodded moving to rummage through the bag before she could change her mind.

-x-

"I think we're very luck considering other cases of vehicular-pedestrian impacts I've treated in the past that Dr. Isles' MRI images suggest that there is no contusion that impacts the brain and she didn't suffer a coup-countercoup injury." The neurologist looked at Jane with sympathetic eyes. "When the brain is slammed from one direction and then slams into the opposite side of the skull." He explained when he didn't see any immediate recognition. "I would think that due to the time she spent unconscious, the general of symptoms she is experiencing and the physical injuries to her head she is only experiencing a moderate injury. We're going to keep her for observations but I think that unless she has any severe symptoms we should be able to let her out tomorrow with specific instructions and out patient follow up." He outlined. "Do you have any questions?"

"But you're definitely keeping her and watching her closely for twenty four hours yes? To make sure that everything is okay. When I spoke to her earlier she had no memory of the accident, and little things she should have known she didn't or was confused about." Jane came back quickly at the senior doctor.

"We are definitely keeping her for the next 24hours and it's important for you to understand that your partner will experience some issues with her memory, specifically regarding the time just prior to, during and after the accident. She may awaken several times during the concussion protocols and not remember previous moments." He advised her. "You can also expect her to not seem quite like herself emotionally, she may be short tempered or appear to be muted in her responses where she would normally be vibrant. It is quite normal and in almost all cases subsides over time as the brain repairs itself." He continued. "It's also important to assume that she may have trouble with fine motor skills, specifically with her broken wrist, and tasks both physical and mental might be more challenging to her as she finds issues with her focus and attention span."

"Does her arm need surgery, or just the cast?" Jane took a breath.

"I've consulted with orthopedics and they are confident a fiberglass cast for a short period will repair the hairline fracture and ensure that Dr. Isles doesn't have any long term issues with it." He assured her. "Would you like to see your partner now? Considering who she is, I had her brought to a private room immediately after her MRI so that our observations can begin." He advised her.

"I would yes. Were you told about my pregnancy?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Dr. Isles was very talkative during my examination. She seemed far more concerned about the negative impact of her accident on your stress level and blood pressure." He smiled softly at her. "Which is why I wanted to talk to you as soon as I had read the results to assure you that I'm not expecting anything to impact her long term and generally I think she was very lucky all things considered." He reiterated again.

"That's Maura." Jane couldn't help but smile. "She's... we're excited."

"Let's reunite you two so you can both worry a little less." He motioned towards a hallway wanting to escort her himself.

-x-


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Two**

"Jane!" Maura's hands were up reaching towards Jane the moment the door to her room slid open and the Detective came into view. The bruise on her forehead was even more pronounced now and there was swelling near her eyebrow and down her cheek, even one of her lips was slightly swelled. "They told me you were still here but I didn't know if they told you where I was."

"Hey..." Jane pushed speed into her walk to take her quickly to the bedside reaching out to the blonde. "I was talking to your specialist." She explained, closing her hand around Maura's uninjured one, smiling at her as she reached out and smoothed her hand over blonde hair encouraging the ME to lean back again. "Getting to look a pictures of your insides, it's official you have a brain." She grinned softly.

"Dr. Bester is very nice, seems very competent and didn't get frustrated by my thousand questions." Maura did lean back and smiled more contently at the brunette though she didn't let go of Jane's hand. "Did he reassure you that I'm fine? They are keeping me in but just for observations." She underlined already knowing what the results were.

"They are keeping you in and reviewing tomorrow if you can come home." Jane perched on the large bed. "You're not fine, you were hit by a car." She clarified. "You're on concussion watch protocol, and strict observation, not to mention your wrist is broken, and the fact your brain got a little scrambled." She cradled Maura's hand in both of her own in her lap. "You're officially a little china tea cup right now."

"I know I scared you." Maura pushed to sit up a little more, pulling herself closer to Jane. "I'm sorry... which is why I will be good and not argue for him to let me out, and follow all the protocols he has set." She agreed easily. "This little china tea cup will be good as long as you promise to look after you while I can't." She caught dark eyes with her own.

"You're not off to a good start, sitting up isn't part of the protocol is it?" Jane gently chastised the blonde but as she did so she leaned closer herself and gently closed her arms around the slender ME. "Or is this what you wanted?"

"Yes." Maura immediately cuddled into her, her body molding to Jane's in a way similar to hugs she'd given during stressful moments but at the same time there was something very different. She let her good hand go inside Jane's jacket, spreading her hand out over the brunette's back to pull them as tightly together as she could. "I missed you and you know how badly I deal with pain."

"They've given you something for that now, right?" Jane said in a soft whisper as she smoothed both of her hands the blonde's back.

"Yes, they are concerned about the dosage with my head so we've started low and I can ask for more if I need too." Maura continued to stay pressed to the brunette for a moment longer. "Jane..." She pulled back slightly so she could find dark eyes with her hazel ones. "I need you to know..." Her sore lips wobbled a little. "How much I love you, how much I love the baby... how much my life has made sense since you... how it only makes sense with you." She leaned in and pressed her mouth to Jane's again kissing her with all the emotion she felt.

Jane was left desperately on catch up, especially as soft warm lips moved confidently and passionately over her own. She felt more than 'let' herself begin to match the kiss, kissing the blonde back, pressing her body into the one leaning into her still, even if the closeness of the ME's body had lessened slightly. Suddenly realizing what she was doing Jane pulled back.

"I'm sorry." She whispered moving one hand to lightly press against Maura's kiss warmed lips. "I shouldn't have done that... you're supposed to be resting... no strenuous activity, nothing that elevates blood pressure."

"I needed to touch you." Maura shook her head ever so softly to dispute the apology but did reluctantly lean back again into the mattress. "I'll be good from now on, I won't suggest you come cuddle with me so that I don't have to lean up." She gave a veiled pout.

"Don't pout." Jane shook her head as Maura leaned back reaching out to stroke her hand over blonde curls very very lightly. "Ma's here, she's going to stay with you while I go back to the station, I'm going to find who did this." She moved to hold Maura's good hand in both of her own. "But I'm not leaving yet." She added shaking her head. "What do you want to sleep in? I can bring it from home."

"Something comfortable, maybe my pink silk set?" The blonde questioned holding Jane's hands back. "I can't remember if they are in the pile for the dry cleaners." She sighed softly. "I know it's normal... but I have these little holes..." She admitted. "About stuff like are those pajamas in the laundry. Can you check and just pick something for me. You know what I like." She confirmed the fact she did know. "Can you also get the things I need for nighttime, my toothbrush, hairbrush, my face cream..." She gave the examples. "And some clothes for tomorrow, I would assume they've taken my jogging clothes in as evidence?"

"I can get all of that." Jane nodded with a soft smile. "Anything special you want? Or shall we hold off in case this stay is longer than just a night?" She asked softly.

"Hold off to see how long they hold me." Maura agreed gently. "Unless there is something you think I need." She squeezed Jane's hands.

"I think all you need is to relax and to get better." Jane smiled tenderly at the blonde. "I think that we need you to be as well as you can be as quick as you can get there, which means you taking very, very good care of yourself." Her voice was full of honest emotion. "I'll see if I can stay with you."

"I would like that." Maura admitted knowing she felt better and safe when Jane was close and even if she couldn't remember the accident she had a residual sense of fear. "And I promise that I will rest. I don't want to cause you any more worry then I have." She admitted her motivation. "But I understand you're going to need to find out who did this, you're such a good detective, you can't help but get wrapped up in a mystery especially if it involves me."

"Oh I'm going to find out who did this, but I'll be back to stay with you as soon as I can, how does that sound?" Jane offered.

"And I'll rest." Maura agreed softly. "You know if there is anything new to worry about your mother will call you." She underlined to try and alleviate Jane's concern.

"The fact that you're alive and that you're going to be okay, that's all I could ask for right now." Jane let her eyes close for a moment. "Don't let Ma bore you with terrible stories about me when I was a kid." She smiled a little when she opened them again. "Remind her you're resting." She brought Maura's hand up to her lips and kissed it.

"You know I love stories of young Jane." Maura seemed to relax more under the intimate attention. "She'll let me rest, I'm sure she's almost as worried as you are."

"Probably more, she knows you're the only one who's ever put up with me." Jane laughed softly.

-x-

"So Janie..." Frankie twisted his chair around as he and Jane continued to try and follow the silver Lexus they had determined had hit Maura from the CCTV cameras in the area to try and find a view of it that gave them a license plate. "Is it true?" He questioned softly, looking around to make sure that no one was around to listen in on their conversation. "Does Maura think you two are dating?"

With a light sigh Jane glanced at her younger brother and nodded.

"Something to do with the injury to her head." She confirmed softly. "She's piecing together things that are not in context." She leaned back against the back of her chair. "She called me Snuggle bunny."

"Snuggle bunny?" Frankie couldn't help but snicker. "That doesn't seem like a very normal term for Maura." He looked at his sister. "Or that you'd actually 'let' someone call you."

"Well I wasn't about to correct her on it was I?" Jane shook her head. "Apparently it's kind of normal, and should right itself..." She sighed again. "I just don't want her to feel bad or awkward about anything when it rights itself." She admitted. "So I'm trying to get the right line." She pushed her hand through her dark mane. "I mean it's not like it's a chore being Maura's main squeeze or anything, apart from the fact that scrambled Maura is a little clingy and I don't want non scrambled Maura to be upset by grabbing too much and not being able to rid herself of the memory, you know?"

"You do realize you've managed to do the thing neither of your brothers have?" Frankie pointed out to her with a smirk. "You've gotten Dr. Maura Isles to date you." He smiled at her. "Did she kiss you?" He questioned further and seeing his sister's immediate reaction he slapped his hand against the desk with another laugh. "Damn she did didn't she." He shook his head over and over. "How was that?" He pushed for more details.

"Soft." Jane admitted with a soft laugh as she shook her head to her brother's reaction to the whole situation. "And..." The dark haired brunette arched her eyebrow really high. "She's a really.. bold kisser."

"Bold kisser?" Frankie slid his chair over closer to the desk Jane was working at. "Can I ask you a question? Without you punching me in the nuts or anything?" He raised one eyebrow. "Did you enjoy it?" He gave a soft inquisitive look.

Jane pulled in a breath and initially scowled at her brother but then sighed.

"Kind of, I mean I was kissing her back before I realized what I was doing." She was honest. "I mean it felt nice and familiar, warm and... I was so worried when I couldn't find her and..." She stopped looking unevenly at her brother. "Yes?" She offered, her voice unsure.

"Damn, I'd owe Frost fifty bucks." He made a vague fist with his hand and waggled it playfully up towards the sky. "You angelic bastard." He continued to look up for a moment longer as if thinking of the horribly lost detective before he turned his eyes back to his shocked sister. "What?" He let his face melt into a soft smile. "He said you two had chemistry, at the time I didn't believe anyone could melt Detective Ironwill." He continued to smile at her.

"Are you in any way being helpful right now?" Jane looked at her brother with a frown. "This is a delusion my head injured best friend has come up with, and all you can do is reminisce about some bet you made with my partner, who God rest his soul knew better than to let on to me he'd done it."

"Come on Jane, you're looking at this all wrong." Frankie pointed out to her softly. "Maura took a hard hit yes, she's jumped to the idea the two of you are already together but what if that's because it's what she really wants?" He continued to explain. "And now that she's kissed you, and you liked it..." He underlined for her. "Maybe it's something you could seriously think about? You think you could do better than Maura?"

"It's not that I think I could do better than Maur, no." Jane bit back instantly. "I've just never..." She pulled in a breath. "She's my best friend, I've never thought about being with her period, I am with her in every way other than 'being' with her, I've never given a thought to crossing that line, I never thought she would..." The brunette stopped suddenly realizing where her brain was taking her. "You think she would..."

"Her first and only delusion after a head injury is that you and her and in a committed relationship, one that includes her being ready to help you through your pregnancy and to raise the baby together." Frankie put forward the evidence. "Do you think her brain just magicked that out of thin air?" He offered softly. "I happen to know that my sister is a great catch, and to turn this around, why wouldn't Maura want you?" He offered in return. "After all 'you' are the reason she gave both Tommy and I that she couldn't date either of us, think about it."

"What? No, I wasn't." Jane looked at him with a grimace.

"Yeah, yeah you were." Frankie contradicted her. "I got told I was a brother to her, i.e because I'm your brother and not the Rizzoli she wants and she actually flat out told Tommy she couldn't because she loved you." He tilted his head. "What'cha read into that Detective?"

Jane arched her hand over her forehead and breathed out.

"I don't know, but I do know I want to find this guy, and I want to know why after running over a jogger first thing in the morning, his reaction is to get back in his expensive car and high tail it out of there." She pulled it back to the point in case. "Because no one does this to Maura, my best friend, or my girlfriend, and gets away with it."

"And who is the hipster in the glasses with the cup of Boston Joe who decides to steal her stuff rather than help her." Frankie slid his chair back to the other desk. He cued up the grainy recording again and then stopped it before restarting it slowly. "Jane... I know this is a wild accusation but watch... does hipster Joe look like he makes eye contact with whoever half gets out of the car before he bends down and grabs her arm band." He ran it over and over. "I know the video isn't clear enough but do you think they said something to each other, like they already know each other?"

"Like this is a set up, almost maybe a routine?" Jane slipped up out of her chair and headed towards the door. "I want you to check reports, go back over the last year for hit and runs with any reported thefts, I'm going back to the hospital to ask there, and to start Korsak on making requests of other hospitals. Keep me up to date on all I need to know."

"You got it sister." Frankie nodded at her. "Tell Maura I'm glad she's okay and thinking of her."

-x-

Maura was uncomfortable, despite Angela having tried to help her get her arm more comfortable by propping it up on pillows and giving in and calling on the nurse for more pain medication.

She would have admitted if asked that her head not only hurt but it was muddled and hazy. She had been trying to force herself to remember the accident most of the afternoon but other than a nightmare about being chased by a semi truck which she knew was inaccurate, nothing would come forward out of the fog to fill in the empty space.

"Angela, have you heard from Jane?" She asked the question softly, thankful for the older woman's thoughtfulness when she'd put only the dimmest overhead light on which helped the throbbing in her head. She opened hazel eyes to see that Angela was working on a puzzle book in a high backed chair to the side of her bed.

"Not recently." Angela shook her head and closed the book, smiling softly at the injured blonde. "How is the pain? Is it any better at all, I can call the nurse again."

"It's... I'm not sure that any more narcotics would benefit my head injury." Maura admitted weakly. "I keep trying to remember... so I can help with the investigation but... I've never experienced anything like this before. Where there should be a memory I have an enormous void." She frowned slightly not wanting to pull at her swollen lip.

"Don't force anything." Angela pulled her chair close to the side of the bed and reached out to cradle one of Maura's hands in between both of hers. "Janie will sort it all out you know she will, she's good, and Frankie will help her." She underlined. "You have to just rest and focus your energy on feeling better."

"I should say this more Angela but thank you." Maura squeezed her hands back softly. "Thank you for accepting me in your family, thank you for treating me with such love, thank you for being Jane's mother." She offered each word with deep heartfelt emotion. "I don't think my mother has ever sat by my bedside." She admitted in a smaller voice.

"Of course she has, probably when you were very small and you don't remember it." Angela shook her head. "And if she didn't then she missed out." She continued, stroking Maura's hand. "You are a treasure, given to this family, and we are blessed to have you."

"You've always made me feel that way." Maura admitted gently. "I'm sorry though, if I've made Jane worry, especially with the baby." She fretted softly. "Usually it's the other way around, Jane gets herself hurt doing something heroic and you and I are keeping beside vigil."

"That's true enough." Angela admitted easily enough rolling her eyes with and soft smile. "Nothing was longer than the days she was in that coma." She shuddered slightly at the recollection.

"They were dreadful." Maura agreed with her instantly. "She was so pale and for Jane seemed so small." She remembered those moment so clearly that it brought her a sad comfort. "But then she woke up and we used to joke that she was better company when she'd been kept asleep." She squeezed Angela's hands again. "I guess I should have known then why she pulled away from me when she was recovering, emotions were just running too high for everyone and she just wasn't ready to admit things yet, which I have never blamed her for." She underlined softly for Angela to understand.

"You haven't?" The older Rizzoli pushed slightly with a small smile. "Even though back then you felt the same as you do now?" She did a little digging of her own to see just what about all of this was confusion brought on by the accident and how much of it was 'freeing' of repressed emotions brought on by it.

"I have always understood that emotions, intimacy in particular is hard for Jane." Maura admitted without any hesitation. "How could I blame her for not being ready even if I already understood how I felt? She was used to be surrounded by people who loved her, supported her... she was the first person who really made me feel valued, appreciated, worthy... if that makes sense." She looked at Angela almost shyly. "Her friendship was already precious enough, wouldn't pushing her to examine the might be have been selfish of me?"

"There is an element of selfishness in love." Angela nodded. "But also of selflessness." She countered. "The trick is getting the balance right." She smiled brightly and then stopped, shifting to sit up a little straight as the door behind her rattled slightly and was pushed open.

"Hey Ma." Jane's trademark voice greeted her mother softly as the detective bundled her way into the room, the strap of a large bag over one shoulder, a small hand held carrier in the hand of that hand and in the other a light beige coloured very traditional 'teddy bear' with a bandaged head and paw. "Maur." Dark eyes flickered to look towards the bed, the look on the detective's face morphing into a tender concerned filled smile.

"Jane, sweetheart." Maura's entire face lit up, at first just because the brunette had arrived then because she saw the thoughtful cute toy in Jane's hand. "Is she for me?" She asked almost in disbelief as she noted the little bear's paw was bandaged on the same side as her cast was.

"She is indeed." Jane brought the things she had with her over to the bed side and put the two bags down carefully and then moved the bear closer. "You have to be careful with her, she has a bruised paw and some kind of coo-ing head injury." She smirked as she perched on the bed and settled the bear on Maura's lap, leaning in to lightly kiss the top of blonde hair.

"She's beautiful and I will be very careful with her." She pulled the bear to her chest with her good hand before settling it back down and reaching to catch the sleeve of Jane's jacket before she could retreat pulling her closer. "Don't run away so quick please." She urged her softly, noting the way that Jane's eyes went to her mother before she relented and sat down. "She's used to us Jane." She gave a soft smile.

"I'm so used to you two." Angela added with a smirk. "She's missed you horribly Janie, and she's been uncomfortable." She pointed out softly to give Jane the update.

"Uncomfortable?" Jane pushed up again and moved to Maura's side frowning as she looked into slightly clouded hazel eyes. "They can't go too heavy with the pain meds with the concussion but..." She turned and knelt down slightly. "I have your reiki pillow." She stood up again with the white and gold pillow. "And your gel eye mask." She smiled but didn't bend down again to get that.

"Those might help considerably, thank you, it was thoughtful of you to remember them." Maura leaned forward, trying to reach back to pull the strange hospital pillow out from behind her, having discovered with Angela earlier that it was plastic with a crisp cotton pillow case.

Jane instantly move and with one hand cradled Maura to her chest and with the other helped place the beautiful pillow against the mattress and then lean the blonde back.

"How's that?" She asked not letting go of Maura this time.

"Much much better." Maura moved her hand up Jane's arm to hold it softly as she let her head settle against the pillow. "The other one squeaked every time I moved." She admitted feeling silly for letting such a subtle thing bother her so much.

"How about I let you get your beautiful girlfriend settled Jane and see if you can get her more comfortable then I could while I go and find you something to eat down at the cafeteria?" Angela pushed up from her place. "If I know you, you haven't eaten since breakfast when I brought it in for you and that simply won't do will it Maura?" She smiled at the blonde.

"No, that is horrible... you need to eat small balanced meals, we've discussed this Jane." Maura looked at the brunette again. "Keeps your blood sugar balanced and contradicts any of the fluctuations in stomach acid that you have been experiencing." She let her hand slip up to Jane's cheek. "Our bargain was I rested and you looked after the two of you, does this mean I get to harass Dr. Bester to release me?"

"No no pestering Bester, I'll eat, I just got caught up with the case and I wanted to get right back here as soon as I could." Jane shook her head, throwing her mother a quick look. "You go down to the cafe Ma, you want some money?"

"No, it's fine Janie." Angela shook her head. "Just work whatever magic it is you seem to work to make her comfortable, but keep it clean." She teased moving around the end of the bed and starting towards the door. "The nurses don't knock before they come in."

"Ma!" Jane looked up as she had been going to smooth down Maura's sheets. The older Rizzoli just put up her hand in a silent wave as she slipped out. "Sorry." She apologized turning to look at the blonde, forgetting for a second she was still so very close to her.

"It's okay, she likes to tease us ever since she caught us on the couch that night." She gave a soft shy smile. "I really did miss you." Her voice dropped to an even more intimate tone. "And it doesn't hurt as much as you think, my lip." She pointed out assuming it was the reason Jane hadn't kissed her yet.

"I didn't want to hurt you." Jane lightly cupped her hand around Maura's cheek, looking lovingly into hazel eyes.

"That's why I pointed out that it looked far worse I think then it feels." Maura assured her again leaning softly into the Detective's strong hand. "Though I understand if it is unattractive." She gave her girlfriend another 'reason' for not kissing her again yet.

"It's not unattractive, it just looks sore." Jane shook her head and leaned gently to press her lips against the blonde's careful to make the most of the contact on the side away from the swelling and contusion. It was a chaste kiss mostly but Jane felt more than willed herself to make the kiss linger, her thumb passing softly back and forth on Maura's cheek as she did so.

"It feels so much better now." Maura admitted in a soft whisper when Jane's lips pulled back a little though the brunette's thumb continued to stroke her cheek.

"Then I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner." Jane shifted slightly to sit her ass on the edge of the bed. "I have soft pink silk PJ's in the bag, your meditation CD and the LED flickering candles I bought you from the spa place you liked so much to help you relax."

"You thought of everything." Maura congratulated. "What exactly did I do to deserve such an attentive girlfriend?" She questioned reaching out her hand to rest it on Jane's thigh and rub softly back and forth, as much it seemed to soothe herself as to soothe the brunette.

"Be the best girlfriend I ever had?" Jane replied with a smile. "You want to get all the moving and the shaking over with, with a complete overhaul, then you can forget about shifting for the rest of the day and just focus on getting comfortable?" She kept her tone soft as she asked. "I slipped my red socks jersey in for later when I come to stay." She smirked.

"Yes, that's an excellent idea." Maura nodded tucking the small bear on the table to the side where her ice water was sitting. "Though... you're staying?" She blinked hazel eyes at the brunette's comment as she began to try to pull the covers back but Jane immediately moved to start folding them out of her way.

"Of course I'm staying." Jane nodded, "I have to go back to the station after this visit but I will be back and then I will be staying." She worked the bedclothes down carefully, frowning when she saw the bruises and cuts that littered the blonde's body from her hard collision with the floor. "You want to try a trip to the washroom while I'm around to help navigate?"

"Yes, please. I think I might have hurt your mother's feelings when I asked the nurse to take me instead of her earlier." Maura fretted softly as she moved first to sit up and then swung her legs slowly out of bed, remembering not to stand up immediately until her equilibrium had adjusted to the new position. The first time she'd forgotten and it had made her head thump for the next half an hour like a war drum.

"Okay, well I brought a whole cupboard of things from your bathroom so wait there while I get your wash bag and your pj's..." Jane moved to get everything and hurried with them to put them in the washroom before coming back to the bedside. "Ready?" She looked into hazel eyes as she offered her arm.

"Ready." Maura slipped her arm into Jane's and slowly stood up, having to close her eyes and take a second when the change in elevation made her head swoon a little. "Okay, I think if I take it slow." She opened them again and took a tentative first step, feeling Jane's strong body right beside her ready to catch her in a flash if necessary. It took far too long she estimated for her to make it across the room and to the en-suite bathroom but she knew it had taken less time than her first attempt and she didn't feel as horrible as she had on the first trip either. "Have there been any leads as to who hit me?" She asked the question as they made it across the large bathroom to the toilet and she happily sat down again taking a moment before she even thought about using the facilities to regroup after the trip.

"Yeah I have some leads, but I don't want you to worry about any of that." Jane moved to the sink, keeping her eye on the blonde as she ran some water into the bowl and began setting out a few things and preparing Maura's nightwear. Pausing she moved over to where the blonde was sitting and stood for a second. "Time to get rid of ugly robe?" She reach her hand towards the tie behind Maura's back.

"Okay." Maura tried to help by leaning forward a bit, comforted she realized even by the feel of Jane's hand grazing her back as she undid the ties and the hideous garment fell off her body being more than over-sized for her petite frame.

As she let it fall from her however, it made it painfully clear to Jane suddenly just how 'hurt' she was even if the majority of the damage hadn't been serious enough for the Doctor's to make note of. Her left side was scraped with road rash, clearly the wrist she'd broken was the one Maura had tried to instinctively catch herself with but when the force had snapped it her body had continued to the pavement and slid more than a few feet on the tarmac to create the literal burn on her skin over the bruising that was colouring her pale cream skin. The bluish blackness was going to cover part of her left breast, her rib cage on that side and down to her stomach in the end.

Her legs, as Jane had already gotten a taste of were scraped and cut from the fact Maura had been wearing capri length pants that left her lower legs exposed to the pavement. Across her right upper thigh was an already dark and angry bruise, it was exact and almost perfectly horizontal making Jane realize it had to have been caused by the car that had hit her.

"When we get you home we can start to make you feel better properly." Jane offered softly, leaning to drop a kiss onto soft blonde locks. She had tucked the soft deep pink button down PJ top into the waistband of her pants so with the over sized gown released and eased free, Jane very, very carefully guided the feather light and baby soft fabric over Maura's upper body. "I'll have you back to feeling okay in no time." She kissed her again.

"I do hope by that you mean the two of us spending hours in bed." Maura smiled at her as she let Jane help her get her cast arm into the sleeve before slipping in her good arm and allowing Jane to do up the buttons as the brunette automatically began the task.

"As soon as I close the case or get as close as it needs for Korsak and Frankie to get it done I'll take a day or two off to look after you." Jane nodded. "We can spend it however you like." She let that part open. "You feeling stable enough for me to go and sort out the bed? I brought blankets from home."

"You spoil me." Maura smiled again. "Go, I'm fine, I promise I won't do more then finish here and transfer to the little wall seat." She pointed to the bench that was attached to the wall only two feet away.

"I'll be right back." Jane nodded that that was acceptable and then slipped back into the main room. She wasn't gone that long before coming back only to find Maura trying badly to get into the pj pants Jane had left behind. "Really?" The brunette cocked her eyebrow as she shook her head smiling. Crossing over the distance from the doorway to the blonde she knelt in front of her and made the whole task 100% easier. "You couldn't just wait huh?" She teased softly. "Maybe I should take Maura Bear back since you clearly don't deserve a present."

"No." Maura's voice actually took on a bit of a childish whine. "I... I should have waited." She admitted with a frown. "I didn't realize how much your head is involved with putting on pants." She admitted enjoying the careful way that Jane pulled the pj pants up her legs as far as possible where she was sitting. "I'm even going to go so far to admit that when I stand to put these on can we just finish the trip back to the bed, it's becoming a little like a number of Taiko masters are in my temporal lobes again."

"Got to love the Taiko masters." Jane smiled wider and shook her head. "Need me to carry you?"

"If you weren't already carrying the most precious cargo I might agree but no I can make it with the same help I had on the way in." Maura disagreed softly.

"Then lets go." Jane leaned in, supporting Maura confidently as she helped her up off the small bench, slowly onto her feet. She carefully eased the pants up and comfortably around the blonde's waist before changing the supportive hold and encouraging their walk through to the main room to begin.

The room beyond was now lit by the three LED candles Jane had bought and there was an ivory colour sheet covering the hospital one on the mattress, with a small blue flower print on it. Folded at the bottom of the bed was a very bohemian looking coverlet in deep crimsons and purples, flecked with strands of gold thread. The blonde's reiki pillow was carefully in place, and there was the soft sound of meditation chanting coming from a tiny MP3 player plugged into a round Red Socks speaker.

Gradually Jane eased Maura to the edge of the bed and encouraged to her sit down.

"How's that?" She asked tenderly.

"Perfect." Maura sat down on the edge of the bed still holding Jane's arm. "I'm not sure what on earth I ever did to deserve you." She admitted allowing the brunette to help her slip her legs up as she eased back down into the new comfortable place.

"Put up with me." Jane replied easily moving to carefully unfold the rich coverlet over Maura's body.

"I never put up with you, I enjoy every moment we have together." Maura corrected her softly, moving to pick up her bear and tuck it into the elbow of her bad arm. "If I doze off and you have to go back to the station I understand." She outlined not wanting Jane to feel guilty if that situation arose. "But eat what your mother brings you, okay?"

"Okay." Jane nodded moving to perch again, this time on the coverlet. "I'm not moving for a while though, I want to see if all this helps." She admitted with a soft smile. "Everyone sends their love and best wishes." She added, remembering how many people had accosted her in the station as she was leaving. "I think you have a station full of admirers."

"They've all been extra nice since I became your official sweetheart." Maura smiled at her slipping her hand into Jane's to interlink their fingers. "I don't think they dare be anything else in case you tear a strip off them." She gave a soft laugh.

"Yeah I can be a bear I guess." She laughed brightly. "Though you're the one with the basement full of toxins and dead people, why aren't people more afraid of you?" She grinned teasingly.

"Because my neutral expression is not a scowl." Maura pointed out gently. "Please tell Susie I'm so sorry for leaving her without any guidance but that I know she's more than capable of keeping things running smoothly even if it involves Dr. Pike."

"I think in all honesty she was enjoying slacking off until her conscience got the better of her." Jane shook her head trying to keep a straight face until she just beamed at the blonde. "I swear I once saw her and that boyfriend of hers beading on one of the morgue slabs when you weren't paying attention."

"That would be highly irregular." Maura knew immediately she was kidding. "The tables have drainage holes, what if the beads went through them?"

"Okay it was beer pong I was trying to keep her out of trouble okay?" Jane laughed more.

"Susie and beer pong? Right." Maura gave a soft head shake, as much as she dared without further encouraging the drummers in her head. "I'm glad that she came to tell you I hadn't arrived, or called, or texted her. I can't imagine how more traumatic it would have been if I awoke alone here not knowing what was going on."

Jane nodded.

"On the plus side, whoever has your phone probably thinks you have at least half a dozen stalkers and wonders just what he's gotten himself into." Jane grinned brightly as she brought up Maura's hand to kiss it lightly. "No more running on your own looking for ass..." The brunette stopped when she realized what she had been going to say.

"I assure you Detective I was not looking at anyones ass while I ran, yours is the only one I enjoy watching flex and bounce." Maura smiled at her lovingly.

"I wasn't going to say ass." Jane smirked but she was blushing hard. "My ass doesn't bounce, I don't have an ass." She objected.

"No it doesn't bounce in that sense, but your running style, the power you put into your strides, it makes it seem as if your backside is bouncing from one landing to the next as you run." Maura admitted the detail as she meant it from her observations. "I noticed you didn't deny it flexed though."

"I took ass flexing at the academy, for extra credits." Jane smirked. "Many hours, just me and a quarter."

"You are incorrigible." Maura tried not to laugh to much as it hurt her ribs but she wasn't going to admit it to Jane. "Though I now can't wait to test how much you've retained from that class when we get home. I have a very special quarter you can show off with."

"I look forward to wowing you." The brunette seemed confident. "How's the bed feel?"

"As if you've somehow magically transported me home." Maura assured her of just how wonderful it was. "Nothing squeaks, or feels rough, I can't hear the insensate movement of individuals no doubt doing their job in the hallway or the hum of the industrial ventilation duct." She listed the benefits. "The lighting is far less irritating to my head and Maura Bear is doing more for my well being then anything the doctor's have given me." She pulled Jane's hand up softly and kissed it. "Knowing you're coming back later makes it almost easy to stay and rest."

"Good." Jane admitted one of the easiest reasons she'd made the decision. "Now close your eyes and let's see if you can't manage a little sleep."

"Yes Doctor Rizzoli." Maura teased actually letting out a slow relaxed breath and closing her eyes as she settled heavier into the mattress. "I love you Jane." She added in a whisper squeezing the hand still linked into hers.

"Always Maur." Jane whispered back, squeeze hers in response.

-x-


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Three**

"This is impressive Janie." Angela's voice was soft as to not wake Maura as she and Jane huddled near the window as the brunette ate the meal that her mother had brought up for her. "I mean I might have thought of the pillow and the jammies, but the sheet, the throw, the music, the candles..." She wiggled her eyebrows at her daughter.

"Maur is a whole package Ma, you can't just go half way and think you got it covered." The brunette shook her head, glancing across at the sleeping blonde more or less after every other bite. "She looks more comfortable." She summed up. "Don't you think she looks more comfortable?" She asked of her mother, pausing before taking another mouthful.

"I don't think it I know she's more comfortable." Angela appraised looking not so much at Maura but at her daughter. "How are you doing? You seem to be managing to play along without much trouble."

"Well you know..." Jane just shrugged and suddenly focused on her food. "It's not like I don't love Maura." She kept her head down. "And it's not like the sexual element that she's projecting over and into what we have is going to hugely reveal itself in the next little while, so it's not so much playing along as just being...right?"

"Right." Angela agreed with her, nodding her head a little too firmly. "I mean she hasn't kissed you or expected you to cuddle with her, right?"

"We've hugged before Ma." Jane looked up at the older woman.

"Of course you have, and you've cuddled watching a movie." Angela agreed with her. "It didn't mean anything... bigger... more..." She smiled. "Sexual was projecting on anything." She used her daughter's earlier term.

"Exactly." Jane nodded a little too enthusiastically. "And.. you've had girl... friends right? I mean being physical with them is just easier than with guys.. right?"

"Of course Janie, girls don't get uptight if you lean against them during a movie, or hold the small of their back everywhere you walk together..." Angela's eyes drifted over to Maura. "And I mean it would only really be a question if you had ever felt attracted to her."

"Well I can't exactly answer that right now can I because it's hard not to feel attracted to someone who has their tongue in your mouth." Jane said a little too frankly before she'd even realized it and then stalled when she did.

"You let Dr. Isles put her tongue in your mouth?" Angela's voice became even more hushed as she looked at her daughter with wider eyes.

"I kinda maybe might have put mine... you know.. I may have returned the favour." Jane blushed and looked away not sure how she'd gotten this deep into this conversation with her mother, of all people.

"Okay Janie..." Angela moved her chair carefully so she was more in front of her daughter. Honestly surprised by how honest Jane was being about how playing along with the delusion was affecting her. She'd expected Jane to do everything to distance herself from the reality of it and shield herself with the idea she was doing this to save Maura further confusion and emotional pain. "First I want you to understand two things..." She began her voice soft. "I love you Janie..." She began with the unwavering sentiment. "And..." She looked towards the bed. "Though not quite the same as she's not mine, I love Maura." She made the second point clear. "Which is why my beautiful baby girl I think that even if this situation isn't ideal, you deserve to know that I don't think Maura's feelings for you are because of the accident." She outlined gently. "I think her belief you are already together is most certainly caused by her concussion but her feelings for you... I think they go back a long time baby." She watched Jane's eyes travel over to the bed. "And if there is any chance that you can reciprocate those feelings, you need to give yourself the chance to really think about it, think about how you want things to proceed once Maura remembers that you aren't actually together."

Jane's nose narrowed a little as the dark haired beauty pulled in a breath and then to her mother's surprise she nodded.

"I know." She looked from the bed to her mother and back again.

"You knew Maura had feelings for you?" Angela had to ask the question, though it wasn't a tone of judgment but soft curiosity.

"No, I know I have to do something about it." Jane clarified. "The question is what." She leaned her elbow on the window ledge and then her hand on her head.

"That really depends on how you feel Jane." Angela offered honestly. "I have no doubt that when Maura's brain resets itself and she remembers that you two are not actually in a relationship she's going to feel very vulnerable and even a bit embarrassed that she put you through this." She reached out and put her hand on her daughter's leg. "I know you're going to tell me I'm a meddling mother who doesn't know her boundaries but the truth is you and Maura make a great pair, the perfect couple." She stressed the observation. "I've always just assumed that you two had a rare and beautiful friendship, something I felt blessed that both of you had found even that and other times... I've wondered if wasn't one of those girl crushes happening." She smiled at her daughter.

"I've wondered that too." Jane admitted. "But then I remember who and what she is Ma." She admitted with a soft sigh. "And as much as she does love me and is my best friend. How would anyone with Maura's grace and standing and all that she has...want this..." She pointed to herself. "And that was before the complication of Casey and the baby."

"Because she doesn't just love you Jane, she's in love with you." Angela pointed out gently. "Because that baby is a part of you no matter who the father is, and she has asked about both of you two dozen times at least while I've been here." She further elaborated. "Because if there is one thing I do know about Dr. Maura Isles even before this happened today she sees you as her equal Jane. Everything in her life you would point out that makes her 'better' than you, she would come just as quickly with something in yours that is even better in her eyes." She admitted softly. "Do you know she thanked me today? Thanked me for being accepting of her, of your relationship with her, for just being your mother." She smiled then it dimmed a little. "Then she told me she didn't ever think that Constance sat at her bedside when she was sick and the way she looked at me Jane, just for being there, I knew it didn't matter that I don't have poise or charm or money, I had the thing she needed the most and I was giving it away freely... myself. That is what you've always had that Maura wants, more than expensive clothes and hoity art, she has you to rely on, to know from a glance at her house that she must have gone running but not got home. To know without having to be asked to bring all of these little things to make the 'whole package' as you put it. For buying her a stuffed bear that probably cost you 9.99 but that I guarantee will have a place of honour in her million dollar home because it came from you."

"You can stay with her until I get back right?" Jane smiled at her mother thankfully for a moment as she asked the question, not commenting on anything the woman had said, but not questioning it either. "Because I should get back to the station, we have an idea of what happened, and it's not a good one."

"You know I'll stay Jane." Angela assured her. "You catch this bastard and make him pay for hurting our Maura." She underlined for the second time that day. "I bet he didn't think when he did this that he'd have half of Boston Homicide hunting him down, poor thing if I didn't want to ring his neck I'd pity him."

Jame actually chuckled softly.

"If I run out of interrogation techniques I'll send you in." She leaned in and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I'm lucky to have you, both of you." She glanced at the blonde in the bed. "Tell her I'll be back as soon as I can when she wakes up." Jane tiptoed to the door and paused for a second. "Thank you." She mouthed to her mother.

"You're welcome." Angela mouthed back leaning to pull a novel out of her purse.

-x-

Frankie sat beside Jane in the unmarked car and looked towards the second hand electronics shop with his binoculars as the brunette was doing the same.

"It was only on for a few minutes but the GPS locator on Maura's phone puts it here less than a half hour ago." Frankie reiterated feeling a sense of anticipation. "My guess is that our thief turned it on to prove to the owner the phone worked, you get a lot more at a place like this for a working phone then a broken one." He added unnecessarily. "Maybe your theory about this all being about robbery is spot on sis." He continued to think out loud. "I mean with a normal person they would have had a credit card and ID information, enough to steal her identity and hijack money from her accounts. When they found out who Maura was from her ID they probably realized we put stops on the accounts immediately and would backtrack to them if they tried to use them. A score that normally gets them a few thousand bucks went flat and the only thing our thief had to liquidate into cash is her cell."

Jane nodded as she lowered the binoculars with a soft sigh and winced at the slight pain of a headache that had been building in her head since the second she had heard about Maura not being at work that morning.

"That and the fact that there have been other reports in the last few months. I think we're talking about a team. The weird part is the fact that it's never the same car." She admitted her frown increasing. "It suggests it's bigger and more complicated than just a couple of punks."

"Or... they snatch a car just for the purpose, that way they don't have to worry about damage to the car or being tracked down because of it." Frankie put forward. "I mean throw it through a car wash and dump it somewhere and when someone gets their car back finally they figure any damage is from the joyrider that stole it and no one is going to collate incidences of stolen vehicles with pedestrian hit and run. Until now."

"You're actually thinking like a detective these days, I'm impressed." Jane glanced at her younger brother and smiled. "Do you have any pain pills on you? This damn headache is really getting to me." She admitted, flicking open the glove compartment and beginning to rummage.

"Jane, you can't take pain pills." Frankie reminded her gently not wanting to incur her wrath. "Look... let me go in and talk to this guy, flush out what the deal is and hopefully recover Maura's phone so we can print it. You wait here and then we can go back to the station and you can go back to Maura and take it easy. Korsak and I can handle this, Cavanaugh is already a little prickly that someone is going to get pissed Homicide is stepping on other departments toes on this one."

Jane looked at Frankie for a moment, her mind and heart a little torn.

"Don't do anything stupid, or risky." She fixed him with her best glare. "I'll kill you if you get yourself hurt." She warned him. "But okay I'll trust you with this one... IF, you promise to call it if you feel like you're losing it."

"I got this, and yeah if it goes pear I'll call you in." Frankie nodded and put his binoculars down on the dash. "Trust me this guy is a middle man, piece of cake."

-x-

"Our guts should get an award." Frankie slipped back into the car and held up an evidence bag with the ME's expensive cellphone inside as well as a second one with her MP3 player. "Our guy Austin who runs that place described a guy to me who comes in two or three times a month to unload phones and music players, which of course our buyer didn't know were stolen." He rolled his eyes. "His description of Austin matches our hipster, glasses, long but well kept hair and apparently always wearing trendy clothes. Austin was extra helpful when I reminded him he was supposed to get ID from his seller and all he could produce was a bad photocopy of a driver's license for a guy who looks nothing like our hipster but I got the copy to follow up on in case there is a link between them." He continued showing her the fake ID. "Austin paid extra for the sim card considering the memory on it and luckily he hadn't had a chance to wipe it yet, so I'm hoping that our hipster's fingerprints might be on it because according to Austin, hipster pulled it out to get a few more bucks for the sale."

"You got it all that's all that matters, the fact that your friends in there just dug their graves a little, isn't our department." Jane smiled at her brother somewhat weakly as in her brother's absence her head had gotten worse not better. "Top job." She said proudly. "Let's get back to the station and start what we need to, the faster we start drawing the lines we need to and start backing the right people into the right corners, the happier I'm going to be."

"No." Frankie looked at her seriously shaking her head. "You're going home to lie down for a bit." He explained to her. "Get out, let me drive." He urged her.

"Frankie..." Jane arched her eyebrows at him in warning. "I need to get this in motion and get back to Maura, there is no room in that for a quick nap."

"Fine, I'll take you back to Maura but Jane... we got this and you're head is killing you." He reached out to poke her in the temple knowing she would move away and of course wince, which she did. "It's going to take the crime lab some time to process this, and for background checks and further collating against stolen cars reports." He urged. "You can take a few to rest and I'll call you in the minute we get a good lead."

Jane looked at the younger Rizzoli through narrowed eyes but then pushed the her car door open.

"You call me the minute you need me."

"The minute before I need you." Frankie laughed pushing out as well almost amazed that she'd agreed to not only taking some rest time but also to letting him drive.

-x-

Hearing Angela talking had helped Maura drift out of her half awake state, especially when her ears recognized that it wasn't a nurse or other member of staff but was in fact Jane that she was talking too.

"You're back." Maura slowly opened her eyes happy to see the room was still dimly lit in LED candle light. "Did I actually sleep that long?" She brought her good hand up to rub at her eye and then immediately regretted it when she hit the bruised skin.

"You did." A soft tender smile pulled at the brunette's lips as she turned from focusing on her mother to look at the injured ME. "You didn't even disturb MB." She moved closer to the bed and reached to ease the small bear from its safe resting place in the crook of Maura's arm. "Lucky bear." She moved it to rest on her lap as she perched on the side of the bed.

"Somethings wrong." Maura appraised her softly, reaching out to put her hand on Jane's arm studying her. "You have a headache." She made the leap after only a few seconds of appraisal. "I hope you haven't been trying to take mine." She frowned softly, the downwards pull of her swollen lip making the move even more dramatic.

"I've been worried about you." Jane smiled softly.

"I'm sorry, worrying about me is the last thing you need right now." Maura continued to frown. "How about you come lie down with me?" She began to shift her body towards the far side of the bed. "Then we can both rest our heads."

Without really thinking about it Jane toed off her boots and slipped off her jacket looking at her mother with a smile.

"You can go home Ma, I'm here for the rest of the night." She said softly as she dropped the jacket on the floor.

"All right, I know when you two are giving me the vibe." Angela smiled collecting up her stuff. "Call me if you need anything." She offered to both of them moving over to the bed to lean down and gently kiss Maura's uninjured cheek. "Try to get more rest, I'll see you tomorrow Maura." She reached out squeezing her hand around Jane's arm before she finally made her way out.

"I'm not even going to ask about the case because I don't want you thinking about it." Maura admitted shifting the blankets as best as she could to ensure there was enough room for Jane to lay down.

"We're getting somewhere." Was all Jane said as she pulled her long legs up onto the bed, there being more than enough space on the bed for the two of them. "How are you doing?" She asked as she leaned back slowly, bending her arm behind her head but reaching the other around the top of the pillow.

"Much better since you and MB arranged the space for me." Maura admitted the fact easily, having been able to get comfortable and doze off almost comfortably for the first time. She didn't hesitate once Jane was stretched out to move her body over and cuddle carefully into the brunette's side. "How are my girls?"

"Suffering." Jane admitted for some reason. "Wishing I could just grab a couple of Advil." The brunette dropped her arm from around the pillow to close lightly around the blonde, leaning her head to press a light kiss onto soft curls, at the same time releasing the hand that her head had rested on, moving it to rest on her own stomach, reaching her fingers to lightly touch Maura's arm that was just reachable against her body.

"Advil is definitely not advisable but you can take Tylenol." Maura advised her reluctant to slip her cast arm across Jane's stomach because of the weight, even if the fiberglass cast was actually much lighter then she imagined it would have been. She did shrug her shoulder forward trying to offer more of her arm for Jane to touch the run of the brunette's hands over the soft material of her top comforting in a way medication couldn't be. "Have you been drinking enough water today? Dehydration can also be the cause of headaches."

"I don't know... maybe." Jane offered unsure of such details of the last 24 hours. "I had a coffee." She admitted with a soft smile as she lowered her head to rest on the pillow.

"Is that your veiled admittance that the only thing you remember having is a coffee?" Maura titled her head to look up at her disapprovingly. "I know today has been hard, I'm not used to being on this side of the hospital bed and you're not used to being on that side." She admitted surprisingly not giving Jane a lecture about hydration or the negative effects of caffeine. "I'm okay though, you need to focus on that and let your central nervous system allow itself to come down from its high alert status."

Jane breathed out slowly and looked into hazel eyes.

"I'll come down off high alert when you're back at home, in your own bed, where I can look after you properly."

"Hopefully that will be tomorrow." Maura assured her shifting her body so she could tuck her head under Jane's chin. "I... I'm so glad your here." She breathed out placing a kiss against the material closest to her lips. "I know that even if I can't remember, my sub conscious continues to hijack my system into moments of anxiety and panic." She breathed out as she expressed the intimate revelations about her internal feelings. "I know it's a normal response, considering its only been a few hours and with the amount of pain and tissue damage, but it's still unwelcome."

"I can honestly tell you I know how you feel, to some extent at least." Jane eased herself into support of the bed further and let herself relax. "But now I am here and you can hold on as tightly as you need, I'm not going anywhere and I won't let anything hurt you." She vowed softly.

"My very own Wonder Woman." Maura did finally let her arm slip around her girlfriend, high enough to be away from her stomach as she seemed to relax a little more into her lean against Jane's body. "It's too bad I can't suggest to help you with your headache the way I would normally suggest." Her voice held a spiced tone suddenly as she drew her finger in a small circle over the brunette's shirt.

Jane cleared her throat, but gave the blonde a very gentle squeeze.

"We'll have time for more... traditional healing methods when we get you home." She offered side stepping the offer.

"That is the best incentive to healing I could have." Maura tilted her head enough to press her lips to Jane's neck in a smooth soft motion before resettling her head. "You never commented on my cast..." She added a soft pout in her tone. "I picked black for you, you always say my black scrubs are the most distracting."

"I bet you only picked it because they didn't have paisley, or anything with a colour it yourself Mandala." Jane smirked as she teased the blonde softly. "It is very cool though. Hopefully its light, and not as hot and heavy as the ones I remember from when I was a kid."

"I think if I had been more lucid when they asked I may have picked white so I could do as you just suggested and decorate it but at the time it felt like a orchestra of jack hammers were going off in my head." Maura made the soft admission. "I wonder if I can get silver and white paints to make a mandala on this one? Would you help me?"

"If you want stick men and dogs with eye patches." Jane smirked and lightly kissed Maura's hair again. "Honestly though, yes I think we can decorate your cast, something floral to match your white dress with the black and white floral panels down the sides?"

"I knew you liked that one more than you let on." Maura lifted her head to look up into dark eyes again. "That day you came down to the morgue three times even though you didn't have a case, I wish now that we hadn't had that call out late so that I couldn't use it to my advantage against you when we got home." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Without thinking to stop herself Jane leaned down and pressed her lips lightly to Maura's very gently.

"Apparently you know me better than I know myself."

"Watching you is my favourite past time, so I hope I know you well by now." Maura smirked briefly after the kiss. "Though I think it's fair to say that you know me better than I know myself, like this morning... you knew exactly where I must be, what I was doing from nothing more than the set up of the bedroom..." She leaned her arm up to run her fingers around Jane's chin. "Your mother and I were talking briefly earlier about times when you were hurt... when you were in the coma after you shot yourself..." Her voice staggered a little. "And it made me remember how we can't predict how life is going to play out." She rested her hand against Jane's shoulder. "This morning I just went for a jog like I have done so many times but..." She was going to sum up what could have happened but decided she didn't want to say the words. "I plan from now on not to take anything for granted, especially not you or our love." She underlined.

"I don't think you do that." Jane shook her head. "I probably do it way more."

"I never think you're taking things for granted, I just know that you get intensely focused, especially when you're on an important case." Maura shook her head to the negative appraisal. "And when I'm the one you are focused on, it's like there is nothing else in your world but me. It's a very special feeling I wouldn't trade for anything Jane."

"You know for someone who is supposed to be resting you're doing a lot of talking." Jane chuckled softly shaking her head and leaning in she pressed her lips against Maura's again. "You deserve to be the centre of the world, you know I think that."

"You're so lucky that we made that no romance at work rule or all the boys would know that you're a romantic sweetheart." Maura brushed their lips together again briefly and then moved back to her spot with her face pressed gently to Jane's neck. "My snuggle bunny." She gave a soft giggle.

Jane made a soft 'tsking' sound.

"Only for you." She underlined gently.

"I know, you'd punch anyone else who called you snuggle bunny." Maura gave another soft giggle. "You took weeks to warm up to the idea of me calling you that."

"I am not openly violent." Jane denied with a chuckle of her own. "You're just lucky I'm just no good at coming up with pet names."

"You're not going to call me bouncy or squishy after this?" Maura checked.

"Squishy is perfect." Jane said her voice bright like the name was somehow inspirational. She gave her a light embrace. "I will hug you and kiss you and call you squishy."

"That was my reference." Maura wiggled closer for a moment with a soft laugh. "I can do pop culture." She thought back to the night they'd spent on the couch with Jane introducing her to 'Disney and Pixar' classics that Maura had never taken the time to watch before. "Now, you're right, all three of us need to rest. Someone is busy in there developing sensory and internal organs."

"Yeah I haven't thought about her much today." Jane admitted moving her hand subtly to unfasten the belt at the top of her pants.

Instantly Maura moved to help with the procedure, her fingers already undoing the button and sliding the zipper down. Without any hesitation she pressed her hand inside and eased the elastic upper edge of Jane's boy shorts down low on her abdomen to further let the brunette relax.

Jane tried hard not to tense her body as she felt Maura's warm hand slide down over her skin, the touch in no way uncomfortable in fact in someways it actually felt nice even if... new.

"You're excited about her?" Jane heard herself ask almost unbidden.

"You know I am excited, elated, I'm charting every moment of her development." Maura knew that Jane sometimes needed reassuring, especially since the baby wasn't 'hers' in any planned way even. "Though I hope you're not going to be too disappointed if she turns out to be he." She warned again. "I have the appointment next week with my financial adviser to finalize all the details of the education saving investments he's outlined for her pro-folio and her trust fund."

"Her what now?" The time she did tense slightly. "Maura I'm starting her a college fund, you don't have to put money..." She stopped. "Can I at least come to this meeting?"

"We have talked about this." Maura reminded her hearing the thread of shock in Jane's voice. "And of course you can come to the meeting, you just didn't show any interest in the logistics when I mentioned it before." She moved her hand down and drew soft circles on Jane's lower stomach. "I know you hate talking about money but... you can't expect me not to arrange things to ensure that her future is looked after when I have the means too. I would have done this even if we weren't together Jane, she's a tiny you, not taking care of her is just not something I could fathom doing."

Jane felt her eyes pull closed with each circle of Maura's hand, her body reacting on automatic to the soft soothing touch, surprising the brunette herself at just how easy it felt, how comfortable it felt. That was until one of Maura's fingers accidentally strayed a little lower on one of the passes, and a bolt of a very different feeling hit hard directly between the brunette's legs. Before she could stop herself a thick groan escaped from Jane's lips.

"I know your worry is me right now but the more relaxed you are, the more relaxed baby is and the more relaxed I am." Maura was surprised that despite the pain in her wrist, using her fingers didn't cause as much discomfort as she thought it would and hearing the deep tone of relaxed arousal coming from Jane, she let her fingers drift to the low point that had caused the reaction and began to caress their with more focused purpose across the soft skin.

"Maur..." Jane pressed her eyes open and moved her hand to lightly guide the blonde's injured hand up back to rest on her stomach. "You're hurt, and I am not that selfish." She shook her head. "Pistachio loves the rubs just as much as she would love something else."

"It was worth a try." Maura leaned her head to kiss her neck again and let her fingers to settle back rubbing against the brunette's stomach. "I think it's so cute you call her Pistachio." She admitted stroking with even more love if it was possible. "Have you thought any more about names?"

"Wait, was that a test?" Jane snickered lightly. "Because that was uncool." She kept her voice light to underline she was teasing, before just letting herself relax again. "But to answer your question I have a couple of idea's floating around." She admitted. "I don't know stupid they are."

"I doubt they're stupid." Maura assured her. "And it wasn't a test, it was an attempt to see if you still were labeling me a tiny fragile tea cup." She swept her fingers just once lower. "It also could have been a selfish attempt to touch you." She admitted gently. "So tell me your ideas, and I promise to tell you honestly if I like or dislike them."

"Well I thought if she wasn't a she, but was a boy, heaven forbid." Jane chuckled flexing her hips slightly upwards at the touch, splaying her hips just slightly in a body reaction to the feeling. "Barry Francesco."

"Jane..." Maura's head came up again, her hand splaying out over Jane's stomach. "That is beautiful and a perfect testament to both men." She leaned to press her lips to Jane's. "I love that you would want to call your son Barry Francesco." She gushed a little more.

"Hmmm well I couldn't decided between Barry Francesco or Barry Thomas or Barry Vincent, but I thought Vincent Thomas for our second was better." She smiled back happily.

"All of them are strong names, but with TJ already being Tommy Jr it's only fair that you kept up the strong tradition of Francisco in your family alive first." Maura assured her that she thought it was the best choice. "Have you had any ideas for Pistachio if she's a girl?"

"Angela Hopeful-Constance." Jane smiled.

"Jane." Maura's hazel eyes blinked for a moment and then began to fill with happy tears. "You would really want my mothers to have a part of her name?"

"Of course." Jane nodded. "She'll grow up hating it probably, but my middle name I share with a small round orange citrus fruit so I'll just tell her to get in line."

"I think she'll love it." Maura enthused gently beginning to rub her hand over Jane's low abdomen again. "Won't you Angela Hopeful-Constance Rizzoli." She said it out loud and her happiness was palatable.

"Do you have any counter offers?" Jane asked relaxing more.

"No, no I think that it's a perfect name... for a perfect Angel." Maura snuggled her head back down and looked down at her fingertips that played over Jane's exposed skin. "I have to admit that I want to savour every moment of your pregnancy but at the same time I want her here, in your arms for us to spoil with love."

"She's going to be in your arms a lot too you know that right." Jane checked with a soft smile.

"That's the part I almost can't believe..." Maura's eyes came up to look at Jane again. "Not only did I get you, but I received a gift with purchase." She leaned to kiss Jane in a slow sensuous meeting of their lips. "I am the luckiest woman on Earth."

"You really think that?" Jane broke the kiss to ask the question, her dark eyes locking onto hazel ones.

"I really think that." Maura underlined to her holding the gauze with emotional honest eyes. "I didn't need today to come to that conclusion Jane, I knew from the first moments of our friendship that you were special, falling in love with you was inevitable as you are irresistible." She smiled shyly. "Having you love me back, yes that makes me the luckiest woman in the world."

"But what if tomorrow, something happened and you didn't remember you loved me, do you think you could do it again?" Jane's voice wavered a little.

Maura knew immediately why Jane was asking the question, after all only hours before she had been hit by a car and suffered a serious concussion that could have been extremely more damaging then it had been.

"Yes, all I would need would be the chance to look at you once, feel you touch my hand, hold you in my arms and all of that love would be there." Maura assured her without hesitation. "It's a part of me, a part that is deeper then just memories, it's what fills my heart, my soul Jane."

"I love you Maura. Don't ever question that, doubt that or forget that." Jane leaned in and pressed their lips together, being the one to press the kiss into something deeper by grazing her tongue against Maura's lips and then sliding her it into the blonde's mouth.

Maura's body dipped closer in a sensual sigh, as she titled her head and played her own tongue against Jane's in her mouth melted by the tenderness of the kiss. Her hand pressed softly into Jane's stomach, probably with an odd mix of flesh and the fiberglass of the cast that was forgotten by the blonde as her mind focused solely on her girlfriend.

Jane was further drawn in to the moment by the almost unbelievable noise that slipped from Maura's lips into her mouth as the kiss continued. She'd never heard anything like it before, nothing as erotic or as arousing in her life. Without thinking to stop herself, she inched closer, pressing harder into the kiss, moving her hand to lightly guide Maura's chin a little higher to make the kiss slightly easier.

Having her head guided up as Jane kissed her harder caused the noise to drift out of Maura's body again, giving away the instant flare of arousal she felt. The doctor knew it was perfectly natural, after her accident her system was in a heightened sense of awareness, her systems tuned into her own injuries while her emotions and thoughts were tuned into both the horror that could have been as much as her appreciation for her life, and her family, especially Jane.

When Jane's tongue finally left her mouth for the brunette to take a much need breath, Maura didn't let their mouths drift far apart. Her own lips closing to suck on Jane's bottom lip as she felt the brunette's breaths, being the one to press in the second time to tease her tongue into Jane's mouth in a sensuous exploration.

It was Jane who moaned this time the sound low and thick as the brunette's hand slid to cup Maura's unswollen cheek, her head tipping to allow the exploration however the blonde wanted it, as dark eyes slid closed.

Maura took the invitation to not slow the kiss but instead to carve out the brunette's lips with her tongue, teasing the tip over white teeth before moving to wind around Jane's again. Another series of aroused noises slipped from the back of her throat as the continued to kiss long enough that Maura lost complete track of time.

"I love you so much Jane." She breathed out, the edge of her nose rubbing against the brunette's when she pulled back just enough to break the contact of their lips.

Slowly Jane pressed her eyes open again and brought Maura into focus, her lips curling into an almost blissful smile.

"I love you too Maur, even if I'm a hard ass about it most of the time."

"Can I admit that I wish we were at home? At this moment not just because I wish someone hadn't tried to kill me with their car but just so that I could try and convince you to let me show you how much I love you." Maura during the kiss had pushed her body up more so that she was leaned in over Jane's left side. The hand that had once been stroking her stomach moving up to play with the top closed button telegraphing that she wanted to open it. "To help emphasis to every part of you that you didn't lose me, that I'm a little bruised but otherwise the same woman I was when you left to go home last night."

"But unfortunately you're my tiny china teacup." Jane sighed softly moving her hand to stop the blonde, shaking her head ever so softly. "My squishy." She leaned and kissed Maura's fingers lightly. "Which changes everything." She pointed out softly. "Even if we don't want it to." She kissed the soft skin again and then traced the fingers of her other hand lightly over Maura's brow. "But believe me, you're not the same woman that you were when I left your place last night." She shook her head. "You're more beautiful, more brave and more amazing." She lowered her tone. "And I am such and idiot for not seeing everything you have always been and letting this happen."

"I know you're right, after all we can't guarantee we won't be interrupted by a nurse or a doctor and I don't like sharing our private time with anyone." Maura agreed with a soft content sigh before she snuggled herself back against Jane's neck. "Would you really do things differently if you could go back in time? I like to think things happened the way they did so that it would be you, me and Pistachio without any worry about the 'how'. I will also credit her with being the one that brought us together."

Jane nestled back into the more resting position.

"Would I change the fact that there is just you me and Pistachio, no." Jane shook her head, her voice low and tender. "You've been the most important thing in my life for a long time Maur... to change the definition of exactly what that meant was terrifying." She said completely honestly.

"It was terrifying for both of us." Maura agreed with her. "Neither of us wanted to lose the other, wanted to risk what we already had just in case..." She underlined that she understood. "But luckily for me the fluctuation in your hormones made your emotions harder to contain and when given a hint I was more afraid of losing you to Casey then of embarrassing myself."

"You knew I loved Casey when he was thousands of miles away more than when he was right next to me, there was nothing 'right' about that." Jane shook her head. "You... I just love you, I miss you horribly sometimes and you're just an elevator ride away."

"I'm glad that Susie came to you and it wasn't you stomping into the lab demanding to know where I was and why no one had notified you I was absent." Maura moved her hand back down to draw lazy circles on Jane's stomach. "You'll never know how many times I wished I had some reason to go upstairs to the BRIC just so I could see you for an instant, or how many times I would walk the corridor by the Cafe just to see if you were in there catching a moment with your mother or getting coffee."

"Oh so now I find out you were my secret stalker." Jane chuckled softly.

"If I was your stalker I would have gone upstairs with any flimsy excuse I could manage." Maura corrected her with a soft laugh back. "You don't think I was creepy do you?" Hazel eyes came up for a moment gently propping with a worried tone.

"No Maur." Jane assured her with a soft loving squeeze. "Will you just settle down, I've always wanted one of this automatic beds, this is my chance to try one out." She reached her other hand to lower their heads a little.

"Yes Jane." Maura settled herself into place again. "I think we should seriously think about looking at the new temperature controlled, adjustable space aged mattress." She actually closed her eyes for the first time focusing on her breathing as she realized that her head was 'sore' again to the point where she couldn't ignore it. "As you get further along it's going to be important that you are able to get comfortable and enjoy relaxing sleep. I've been comparing pillows online designed to help you relieve back strain and of course nursing pillows for when Pistachio is with us."

"Are you really still talking?" Jane made a soft groaning noise.

"Sorry." Maura smiled against Jane's shirt and snuggled her head closer.

-x-


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Four**

"Jane, it could be hours before the doctor is able to come to see me on his usual rounds, he's not going to come directly in to see me when he arrives at the hospital. I am not in critical condition and I'm sure that considering his specialization he has many patients falling under that criteria." Maura argued softly as she watched Jane struggle to fold up the z-bed the nursing staff had been nice enough to bring in for the detective when Jane had made it clear to them with a suspect still on the loose the Medical Examiner was too high profile a person to be just 'left' alone. Her main night nurse, who had clearly seen the notes about who Jane was on file, and had walked in on them earlier to find them both cuddled up asleep together had made a slight 'knowing' noise but in the end had been the one to arrange the extra bed for Jane to get some comfortable sleep in rather than being sat up in a chair all night by her beside. "I know you have to get into work, your mother will be here before 9:30 depending on traffic and even if Dr. Bester agrees to let me go there is going to be paperwork and instructions. Plenty of time for me to call you and update you on the situation before I'd be going home." She had to admit that on one hand she felt more human this morning, having been helped by Jane first thing to wash up a bit and get into her more normal morning routine but on the other hand she'd awoken far more in pain from her general injuries. All of the 'minor' injuries now adding up to severe stiffness and intense discomfort that she was trying to mitigate with the idea she would be going home to her own bed soon to continue her recover.

"I know all that but Frankie texted me already and let me know that I don't have to rush anywhere if you need me and I think you need me, you look worse today than you did yesterday." Jane frowned as she trapped her finger in a fold, cursing she sucked it into her mouth and lightly bit onto the throbbing flesh.

"I am..." Maura was about to give in and admit how she was feeling but seeing that Jane had hurt herself she just held out her good hand and softly indicated for her to come towards the bed. "Let me see." She requested in a soft voice, pleased when Jane did walk over and stuck out her hand for her to inspect it. "I think you'll keep the finger." She brought it up and kissed the tip of it ever so lightly. "And to answer your question, I do feel a little more... bruised and battered today generally. But considering the time now that the contusions have had to swell, that my body will have assessed the damage and be working already to repair the injured skin tissue, that nerve ending immediately dampened will have been reactivated for my nervous system to further assess the extent of the damage..." She began a medically long winded explanation. "It's not unexpected Jane."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Jane admitted with a soft pout, as she shifted to sit on the edge of the bed. "I am happy that we didn't run into any complications with the concussion." She went on to say as she looked at the blonde tenderly. "No throwing up or in coherent rambling, even if a part of me was almost looking forward to you rambling about pink elephants or bananas in pyjamas."

"I could imagine you finding great pleasure in that kind of hallucination." Maura admitted with a soft smirk. "I also have to admit I was hoping that after some refreshing and repairing deep sleep my brain would have been able to find and properly file the memories of the accident that I'm missing but..." A frown pulled at her mouth now. "I still can't remember anything, I'm sorry." She genuinely looked ashamed of this fact. "I should be helping you with the investigation by giving you details but... instead I can remembering leaving the house, I can remember being in the park but after that the next thing I remember is waking up to see you." She looked at Jane still sad. "I know it's normal, I would tell any patient it was normal but there is a big difference between the evaluation on paper and when you are experiencing it for real." She admitted her own shortcoming.

"Maur stop it okay, by the way the case is going other than being helpful we might not need anything from you." Jane shook her head softly and reached out to lightly take the blonde's uninjured hand. "Really all I need you to do is focus on getting better, the bits and pieces will come back to you and if they don't..." Jane gave a shrug. "They don't... who really needs to remember being run over?"

"Is it natural to be concerned that I might have forgotten other things as well?" Maura admitted squeezing Jane's hand harder. "I mean I couldn't remember what clothes were in my dry cleaning pile, what if I've forgotten the fundamentals of blood spatter interpretation, or my security code for the house or what your favourite food is?" She looked a little forlorn.

"Well later, when you're at home and rested a little more we can test a few of those things." Jane offered trying not to frown at the idea that Maura was questioning herself like she was. "Are you worried enough to want to talk to your specialist about it?" She offered.

"No, fundamentally if I look at this logically it's too early to expect to accurately expect my memory centres to be responding properly. There is a very good chance I will never remember the moments directly before during and after the accident due to my ancient brain activating an archaic self preservation system." Maura admitted to both Jane and herself. "And I'm quite sure that if there was anything on the very through scans that they did yesterday to cause any concern he will order another series today before my release, but considering I'm not experiencing any verbal disruptions, movement difficulties beyond the constraints of the tissue injuries, or emotional disturbances..." She paused. "I haven't been acting out of character have I?" She checked with Jane knowing the detective would know best.

"Not really." Jane shook her head. "You haven't been spouting Bulgarian or juggling cleavers." She offered with a grin.

"Then most probably I just have to admit that I am not above the common side effects of a medium grade concussion." Maura admitted softly. "Has the accident reconstruction been able to estimate the speed of the vehicle that hit me?"

Jane arched her eyebrow at the doctor and shook her head.

"Which part of stop worrying about it did you not understand?" Jane underlined softly. "He was going fast enough to hurt you but not fast enough to kill you, it was a deliberate choice on his part, or at least that's what we think." She offered the barest of answers. "And I know what you're going to say to that, that someone can be killed by a car traveling 5km an hour and walk away from an accident involving one at four times that speed, but go with what I'm telling you okay?"

"Yes Jane." Maura gave a soft nod and leaned back into her reiki pillow more. "This is one of those times when I need to shut off my inquisitive brain and just trust in that knowledge that you and the rest of the BPD are looking after it." She nodded and let our a soft breath. "Would you feel better if you talked to Dr. Bester again? He might do another scan if you insisted and it would make you worry less, this has been stressful enough for you and the baby, submitting to another series of imaging exams is the least I can do if it will alleviate your worry."

"It probably would make my stress levels drop a little." Jane admitted with a small smile. "I just want to know everything up there is as well as it can be all things considered. After all you're the smart parent, I'm the stupid one." She offered.

"Hey, you are not stupid." Maura corrected her immediately. "You just didn't spend as much time on a neurology rotation as I did during medical school." She re-framed it. "Well then if Frankie and the boys don't need you in right away, how about you try to wait until Dr. Bester arrives, we can share our general concerns and see if he is willing to conduct another series of images which under the circumstances I don't think is unwarranted. It will delay my release but also mean that it will probably be later in the day when you might be better able to take some time away from your desk and escort me home." She modified their plans. "How does that sound Detective Snuggle bunny?"

"Sounds like a great revised plan." Jane agreed easily and quickly considering all her concerns. "You know no matter how bruised and battered you are right now, you're still beautiful." She added with a soft smile. "Don't know how you do that, after a week or so in a coma I just looked like hell." She chuckled.

"Actually to me you looked beautiful, even with the tubes and the bandages, when you opened your eyes for the first time... I had been so worried we were going to lose you..." Maura admitted leaning up to pull herself to Jane's body a little. "I knew in that moment how much I loved you, how I didn't know how I would have existed without you..." She admitted in a soft voice. "You probably didn't even notice that day how I started to cry, just because you'd opened your eyes."

"Talking of not remembering things, I don't actually remember much about all of that..." Jane admitted with an honest smile. "Other than you and Ma taking real good care of me, you always have. I do remember my care of you when you donated your kidney was less... tender." She smirked. "And more cruel to be kind... it's how I got you running, which ultimately led to this which isn't exactly something to be proud of in retrospect is it?"

"You were mad at me for doing it." Maura admitted that she had understood why Jane's reaction had caused her to be so brusque at the time. "And you were nice enough when I was first recovering, it was when I was letting the emotional disappointment overwhelm my recovery that you started the tough love." She gave a soft laugh. "I still wanted to snap at you a few times to be nicer to me, which... I did didn't I?" She prompted.

"I didn't mind." Jane shook her head. "You and emotions are a little like me and emotions, acquaintances not BFF's."

"We're quite the pair sometimes aren't we?" Maura gave a soft laugh leaning herself completely against Jane's body. "At least we both know how to read each others body language, it goes a long way in figuring each other out." She let out a soft breath. "I hurt." She admitted in a small voice.

Jane closed her arms around the blonde and kissed her head softly.

"I wish I could make it better." She said softly and honestly.

"You do." Maura admitted snuggling closer. "Thank you for staying last night, every time I woke up I just had to look to see you and I felt better."

"I'm sorry I didn't stay awake and watch you all night..." Jane shook her head apologetically. "Pistachio has me worn out more than I expected. Maybe there's something to those vitamins you're trying to pawn off on me after all."

"By tonight I want you back on schedule." Maura outlined. "And please don't think I wanted you to stay up all night, that you were resting made me feel calmer, made me know it was all okay. Detective Rizzoli doesn't sleep if the world is ending." She outlined the reality check she had used to assure herself. "How is Pistachio this morning?" She settled her hand against Jane's stomach.

"Ugh, so so." Jane gave Maura a look of uncertainty. "Unsettled and a little nauseous." She admitted. "Happy I can't smell the 'hospital' and am instead surrounded with all things Maura."

"I'm happy to be your happy smell." Maura snuggled closer. "You could come lay down with me until your mother gets here, it will help with the nausea until she arrives with something yummy for you to eat." She suggested patting the bed again.

"You know I could begin to think you like lying around with me." Jane smirked, shifting slightly to ease more onto the bed.

"You're just beginning to think that?" Maura gave a soft laugh and snuggled into her, leaving her sorest side up so that she didn't have to lean against any of the scrapes or bruising. "By the time Pistachio is ready to greet this world you'll be thinking the only thing I like to do with you is lie down." She settled her arm high across Jane's body.

"I'm going to be so huge by then." Jane groaned rolling her eyes. "I won't be able to do anything other than lie down."

"Don't be ridiculous, there is no reason for you to be doing almost all 'normal'..." She stressed the word. "Activities even late into the third trimester." She gave a soft laugh. "Though considering what you think normal activities are I might have to agree you won't be able to do much... except sit down and watch sports a lot? Yay." She made a badly enthusiastic noise. "I personally can't wait to see the changes in your body Jane, to experience the maturation of your pregnancy as you and Pistachio develop in anticipation for delivery."

"You want to see me get fat?" Jane arched an eyebrow at the blonde and then hugged her a little tighter in their reclined embrace.

"No, I want to see the changes in your body as you progress into the third trimester. You're not going to be fat Jane, you'll be carrying a baby." Maura clarified as she was sure she'd done at least three dozen times by now. "Knowing you, Angela will barely be born before you're trying to get out running in order to get back to your pre-baby weight."

"I thought we could get one of those running pushchairs." Jane nodded.

"I actually think that would be a wonderful idea, it will also give me a chance to take her outside while you are still resting at home. Fresh air and stimulation is great for development." Maura agreed with her. "I thought also when she'd old enough we could join a baby and me water therapy class."

"Totally, Ma took all of us to one when we were small. 'Little swimmers' I think it was called." Jane nodded enthusiastically agreeing with the blonde. "And you and she are signing up for baby yoga."

"Of course." Maura snuggled her head closer. "It's going to be wonderful Jane, every step of the journey." She underlined her belief to her girlfriend. "I know right now the maladies seem to be difficult but I think your mother is right about one thing she keeps saying, the rewards are worth the negatives." She moved to gently rub her hand, lifting the heavy cast out of the way as she did, against Jane's stomach.

"Yeah I also know she was right when she said I can't do this on my own, and to know that I have you through it all..." Jane rubbed her fingertips over those that touched her stomach. "Makes me feel like I have a chance of making it through the whole thing sane." She softly laughed. "Thank you." She added her voice dipping softer. "For everything you do, for just being you and everything that means."

"You're welcome." Maura leaned up to look into dark eyes. "Thank you for those very same things, and for trusting me, loving me enough to share this baby's life with me, to share with me the responsibility of her growth and her development, the chance to be a roll model and cheerleader for her... to be there to love the two of you." She underlined. "It's the greatest gift."

"I'll make sure to remind you of that when she's kept us up for 28 hours straight and we're arguing about whose turn it is to feed her or change her and she's screaming the house down." Jane grinned.

"I know you'll say I'm crazy but I'm even looking forward to those moments." Maura grinned back. "Because I also know by hour 30 your system will shut down and pass out on the couch and it'll just be me and the baby time." She gave a soft laugh. "I'm going to perch her on your back and let the rhythm of your breathing and my Tibetan chanting lull her to sleep."

"You're weird and a little crazy, you know that right?" Jane smirked as she settled back more against the mattress. "It's one of the things I love about you."

"Why thank you Detective." Maura leaned and brushed their lips together, having to admit to herself the swelling in her face made hers all the more sensitive this morning before she leaned back down against Jane's body. "That you're weird and a little crazy is one of the things I also love about you."

-x-

"Tell her what you got Frankie, this is your work." Korsak made a motion with his hand for the young Detective to take the floor when Jane came in clutching her coffee looking for a status update.

"Thank you..." He did a soft bow and then used the tablet to change the screens they were looking at. "It took a lot of collating, and some digging through evidence but... I think I can tie our hit and run thieves to at least 16 different pedestrian attacks in the last six months. All of these correspond, sometimes a little tenuously, to the make and model of high end luxury cars that were stolen in the wee hours of the morning of the 'accidents'..." He made quotations with his free hand. "And all the vehicles are later recovered with damage, that according the the police and insurance reports, to the front area of the vehicle consistent with crash damage we'd expect. In most cases the damage was repaired by the owners insurance without any real investigation, because there was a stolen car police report and all of these babies are worth money so it's not like our owners are going with cut rate insurance policies." He continued. "Add to that... eleven of our sixteen target cases involve the pedestrian who was hit also reporting a breech of their credit card and bank account and we have ourselves a ring here. The information was never collated together to realize that we had a duo working on this whole set up because most of the credit card fraud was dealt with by the companies and any breech of banking information usually was spearheaded by the banks fraud officers who filed a mandatory police report for theft but in most cases only to expedite the return of the funds to their customer not in the expectations of an extensive police investigation. Because of the length of time between the victim's accident and the statements coming in, in today's world a good number of our victims might not even have collated the events."

"Now tell her the bad, good news." Korsak urged him.

"Early on one of the pedestrians was an eighty year old woman by the name of Florence Winters, she died two months later of her injuries Jane. From that point on our duo only seems to hit younger people, I'm guessing they realized they were better targets." He frowned. "So now Cavanaugh says this is officially our case as Ms. Winters case is listed as a vehicular homicide."

"Our case." Jane actually smiled like a child that had been given the gift she had been wanting for weeks. "I love you, both of you." She grinned more and sipped her coffee. "Let's get these bastards." She slipped into her chair and looked at the data that Frankie had already transferred for her to peruse. "But..." She stopped turning from the screen for a second. "I might have to slip out if I get a call just to get Maur home. We're running a second batch of tests done, but we should get her released later today and I want to be the one to take her home, Ma's said she can handle it, but I just want to do it."

"I have it on the QT that even the Governor has called the Chief to send it down the line that this is a top priority case. He doesn't like the idea that anyone thinks they can run over any pedestrian in this city and not find yourself being hunted, but we all know it's because the Globe and the Herald both had stories this morning about Maura being targeted." Korsak threw in. "So I like to extrapolate to the direction that you Detective should take care of the ME, so whenever you need to go just let us know." He threw her a wink.

"Thank you." Jane gave him a soft smile. "I apologize now if at times I'm not as on point as I should be, just tell me if I'm not." She added looking at the two of them. "I'm worried."

"Because the doctors are running more tests?" Frankie questioned right away, feeling a thread of worry himself. The last time he'd gotten an update from his mother, Angela had seemed optimistic and pleased with Maura's progress and the specialist's opinion on her case.

"Yeah, but no, I mean we talked them into that, I just..." She stopped. "I don't want anything bad to happen to her, ever." She admitted. "But there's more to it..." She stopped again. "Forget about it, lets start working this."

Korsak looked at Frankie for a moment and then pushed up out of his seat.

"Your coffee's given me ideas, I'll grab you one Frankie." He made the point of giving the other man a long look.

The younger Rizzoli waited until their Sgt had left the room before he looked at his sister who was studying the screens of details.

"Maybe we could work better if you get the, forget about it, off your chest." Frankie leaned back in his chair softly appraising her.

"I don't think so." Jane looked at him shaking his head. "It's so complicated Frankie." She sighed hard. "And I don't even know where to begin."

"Let me give you a start... Maura woke up from her concussion thinking you two were dating, you began playing along and now... it's not feeling so much like playing anymore?" Frankie quirked an eyebrow.

"Since when did you become so enlightened and smart?" Jane arched her eyebrow at him and dropped her head into her hands with a huffed sigh. "I love her." She just summed up with an exhausted breath. "And some time, any time actually she's going to wake up and remember that she doesn't love me."

"Or she's going to wake up and find out that in a weird way this attack bridged the gap between you and her getting romantic that she's always wanted." Frankie pointed out to his sister seriously. "Do you really think that her feelings for you are new Jane?"

"I don't know." Jane frowned. "But today when we were talking about whether or not she should have more tests her only reason for having more would be if she were acting 'not like herself' well she's not, not towards me." Jane revealed her worry. "She's clinging, and emotional and calls me 'snuggle bunny' a lot, which is just not normal, I don't even know if it would be normal if we were dating, and I'm worried that it's not just the 'dating' thing that the injury is caused, it's the emotions behind it." She explained. "I know Maura loves me, but not necessarily like she does right now."

"Hold on." Frankie held up his hand to stop her. "You're seriously telling me that if you and Maura were dating, were planning your life together with the baby, you don't think after almost getting killed by a car while out running she'd be emotional and clingy?" He raised an eyebrow. "Do you not remember what she was like when you were in the hospital?"

Jane pulled in a deep breath and shook her head.

"I don't." She admitted. "I think I blocked it out because it didn't fit with how I needed to feel about her to function, I've had to ignore any attraction I've felt towards Maura for a while Frankie." Jane made the very rare admission, internally blaming the pregnancy for her seeming inability to deal with all of this herself.

"Then let me tell you what was told to me... your 'friend'..." He quirked his eyebrow at the word on purpose. "After doing procedures on me to save my life..." He pointed out purposefully. "Was the first one to rush to your side despite the fact there might be more shooters in the building and buried herself in your blood to try and stop you from bleeding out on the front steps of this building, she was in the ambulance as you were rushed by a police escort to the hospital, she was in emergency the whole time as close as she could get to you until you were rushed into surgery, then she spent the next 10 hours waiting to get word as to how the surgery had gone and she spend the next 16 hours covered in your dried blood in the ICU waiting room getting moment to moment updates and watching you through the glass observation walls." He frowned softly. "I know this because when I woke up from surgery and Ma was there she explained how Maura was taking point with you so she was able to be there with me most of the time." He explained knowing Jane would want to know how he knew this. "It took Korsak and Frost promising that they would both stay in the same spot to even get her to budge long enough to go home, shower and change. From what Ma told me she showered with her phone in a baggie in case someone called." He smiled softly at her. "Whatever you've been doing to ignore this attraction between you two, I think it's safe to say Maura's been trying to ride the line in her own way Janie. I don't think the knock she took to the head created how she feels about you, I think the only thing it did was make her forget to hide how she felt." He summed up.

"I want to marry her." Jane announced suddenly.

"Whoa Tonto, a minute ago you were afraid she doesn't love you and now you want to marry her?" Frankie moved around to stand next to his sister. "You're serious aren't you?" He asked the question almost rhetorically. "How much love have you been repressing?"

"A lot, and I want Angela to have two mothers right from the start, I want Maura's name on her birth certificate and I want it there as my wife." Jane kept her hair back off her face with one hand as she looked at her baby brother.

"You're naming the baby after Ma if it's a girl? Janie." He couldn't help but move to hug her. "Okay..." He was surprised when she didn't squirm and he only hung on for a moment to not ruin the effect. "We need a ring. You can't just ask a woman like Maura without a ring."

"I can't ask her at all if she only loves me because of this head thing." Jane shook her head, brown eyes looked at him forlornly.

"No, she needs her memories to be sorted again but think about it, when she finally has her 'whoa' moment and realizes that since the accident she's been all over you, clingy as you even put it, and that you've been allowing her brain to work things out, wouldn't it be better if when she figures she's ruined everything with you that you're there pulling out a ring telling her how much you really love her?" Frankie offered the romantic option. "You are on a deadline if you want those things you just listed." He motioned to her stomach. "But I'm willing to bet that offered the chance to really share this with you, for it to be the three of you against the world, Maura's a smart lady, she's not going to pass that up." He smiled at her more.

Jane pulled in another breath.

"You really think I should go ahead and get a ring?" Jane's brow pulled into a unsure frown.

"I think you should do what your heart is telling you to do, and from what you just said to me, that involves getting a ring." He reached up and put his hands on her shoulders. "I can honestly tell you that if you were my brother, I'd be telling you that having watched the way you and Maura are together, that you needed to grow some balls and get on that. So... it's 2015 and what's it they say, love is love, so grow some balls Janie and get your girl." He grinned at her.

"But there's the case we have to focus on." Jane shook her head. "A high level in depth case doesn't lend itself to shopping for rings." She admitted.

"Okay slight hitch in the plan but we can work around it, jewelry shops have online catalogs now." Frankie grinned at her softly. "What kind of a ring do you think you're looking for?" He moved back around to his computer. "Susie says the lab should be finished processing Maura's cell phone and sim card within the half hour, so we still have some time to look. I've done all the collating of the data on the other cases, the most we could be doing is driving around looking at the various scenes but honestly I don't think it's going to tell us a lot other than opportunity meets location." He shrugged. "So... I'm going to assume you're thinking solitaire... right?" He began to search waving her over.

"Actually..." Jane admitted with a little look. "I was thinking it would be more Maura if I bought her something antique. You know something that was a piece of art, a piece of history a piece of something more than just off the shelf of a jewelers store. A one of a kind thing that had survived the rigors of time."

"I like how you think." Frankie smiled at her. "Even the antique stores have inventories online these days, lets see what we can find..." He restarted his search.

-x-

"Jane..." Korsak stuck his head around the corner into the BRIC to see the tall brunette still mapping out incidents with her brother to see if a 'comfort zone' could be worked out for their duo as to where they stole and where they used the stolen cars to hit their victims. "Just got a call from dispatch, we have a woman trying to use Maura's credit card at a high end Boutique on Morton, the company had the card flagged and the store attendant had the presence to call in foot patrol. They're bringing her in now." He smiled at the other detective. "Who wants to bet she knows at least one of our duo?"

"I'll bet on that one." Jane broke her attention to look at the sergeant with a half smile. She was about to ask which room she should head to but then stopped as she realized with a certain amount of discontent that she wasn't sure she wanted to. "You want me to deal with her?" She asked of Vince not letting her own query show.

"All depends, you up to dealing with our fake Maura who is still insisting to the uniforms she's Maura Isles and this is all a misunderstanding?" Korsak warned her softly. "She even had a fake driver's license made up." He warned her.

Jane's jaw locked a little when she heard just how far apparently this woman had taken the charade.

"I could do it, you know I could." She offered. "Depends what kind of an approach do you think we should take with her. Is she giving them the weepy helpless female routine?"

"I'm guessing the tears will come out when she realizes we're not buying the whole misunderstanding angle." He admitted. "But they will also probably dry up when she finds out we're not just booking her for credit card fraud, but trying to tie her into a homicide and fifteen attempted vehicle homicides." He summed up. "I know you can do it, but do you want too?"

"No I don't want to look at the woman who is involved with the group who at best just blatantly ran down Maura with the purpose of stealing her identity and robbing her blind, I want to beat her senseless, run her over and take away her freedom." Jane replied honestly. "But I'm a cop so I can only legitimately try and do one of those things."

"I'll let Frankie take the interview." He nodded. "You want to watch with me?"

"Okay." Jane agreed to the slight change of plan, taking a quick glance at her watch with a frown, noting that it was already midday and she hadn't heard anything from the hospital. "Do you think that the threat of something more than fraud and impersonating the medical examiner of the state of Massachusetts will be enough to make her roll?"

"It would be more than enough to make me roll, after all the charge she thinks she's facing is at maximum a 5 grand fine and two years, the charges we can press her with add up to the rest of her life." He explained. "I'm thinking she doesn't even realize where her guy is getting these cards he's getting her to impersonate. She probably gets a cut of whatever they can buy once they liquidate it." He continued to offer an explanation. "If she doesn't budge we'll have to be ready to put surveillance on her." He thought ahead. "She's likely to go right back to her contact to bitch him out for getting her nabbed." He saw Jane checking her watch again. "No news from the hospital? Call your mom, it'll be a few until she's in a room."

"They would have called me if there was news or if she could go home." Jane shook her head. "I'd just be bugging them if I called now." She breathed out. "And I wouldn't be better if all the news was 'she's still having tests' or 'they're keeping her in'." She admitted frowning harder.

"Yeah but it's better to know, gives you a chance to plan out the rest of the day." Korsak tilted his head. "Go on, I don't want to see you in that observation room until you have an update on what's going on in the hospital for me." He pointed out moving off. "Phone."

Jane nodded with a soft smile, pulled out her phone and moved to push out of the BRIC and eased into the to hall towards the elevator, already calling her mother's cell.

"You must have a break in the case, I was expecting this call an hour ago." Angela answered with a soft chuckle. "Did you catch the bastard?"

"We have someone in questioning to do with the case but it's not the driver." Jane shook her head. "And you were expecting a call? I was expecting a call? How are you? How is Maura? Have they done the tests? When can she come home?"

"I'm fine thank you for asking." Angela purposefully answered that question first. "And the tests are done, but apparently Dr. Bester had another emergency so we're stuck waiting on his final approval as to the results and if she's coming home. But..." Her smile could be heard in her voice. "I made friends with the nurse and she already assured me that the report from the scans are good, they just need his okay to send her home so it could be anytime." She summed up. "I was waiting to call you when we actually knew something officially."

Jane breathed out an audible sigh of relief.

"And how is she? She was in a lot of discomfort this morning not just from her head." Jane continued her questioning. "Did you remember to bring the panda tea in with you and has she had some?" The brunette rattled off her questions quickly.

"She's sore, but that's to be expected Janie." Angela tried to reassure her daughter. "And yes I brought the tea, yes she's had some." She listed off. "She's been reminding me of you since about eleven, every time someone goes by she expects them to be on their way to tell her she can go home." She gave a soft laugh. "She's fed up with this place which personally I think is a good sign, though... did you really promise her you'd take a few days off to stay at home with her?" There was a hint of question in Angela's voice.

"Yes." Jane admitted. "If we get things here with the case that I can, I'm taking some time to spend with her." The detective confirmed. "Is it that much of a shocking thing to promise?"

"It is coming from you, my daughter doesn't normally take days off work." Angela pointed out to her softly. "Though... I think it's a good idea. Maura is going to need help especially for the first few days, she's as good at asking for help as you are." She reminded the brunette. "She misses you." She added suddenly in a softer voice.

"I miss her too Ma." Jane said matching her mother's softness. "Is she resting?"

"Yes, she's meditating." She admitted. "I went to get the newspaper to try and distract her when she's done." She gave a soft laugh. "Jane..." She let her voice drop to an even softer tone. "Have you thought anymore about what we talked about?"

"I've done nothing but think Ma." Jane admitted honestly.

"It's just..." Angela could be heard settling some things on some sort of table. "Maura and I talked this morning, and I know we're all curious as to whether what is going on is just because of the accident or just an expression of what she's already been feeling. And..." She heard a disgruntled noise from her daughter. "I know, but I wasn't doing it to just be a snoop or anything, I just want to get you a clearer answer, and be able to support Maura when she does reset." She tried to explain her reasons.

"Did you get any clearer idea? From Maur? I just..." Jane offered obvious interested in anything her mother had managed to gleam.

"Janie, did she ever talk to you about what she arranged with her lawyers after you were shot?" Angela's voice dropped lower.

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked confused. "Arranged with her lawyers about what?"

"I'm not telling you all the details but... you know how we weren't sure you were going to be able to go back to work? It wouldn't have been a problem baby." Angela tried to softly explain without going into details.

Jane took a small breath.

"I need to talk to you Ma." Jane admitted softly.

"You can always talk to me baby." Her mother's tone was purely sympathetic.

"No, not on the phone. I need to talk, talk to you." Jane outlined.

"Come to the hospital then, we're in a holding pattern, I can meet you downstairs if you're not up to seeing Maura." Angela gave her the option. "I know this has been hard on you sweetheart, you're not used to being the one watching someone you love in pain, that you can't stop no matter how much you want too."

"I don't know if I can Ma, we have someone in questioning and I should be here..." Jane pressed her free hand to her brow. "I want to, because I want to talk over a lot of things and I want to feel... grounded." She admitted.

"Then you either get here as soon as you can, or when we get Maura home you and I are going to have a conversation before you go back in." Angela outlined with a certain amount of authority. "But let me tell you this baby..." She hesitated only long enough to take a breath. "I'm here to look after you and I'm here to look after Maura. We're going to get through this, together."

"I hope so." Jane admitted. "Thank you for all you are doing, for being there with her." She added. "I'll call you with updates, do the same."

"As soon as the doctor comes in." Angela vowed for her.

-x-


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Five**

"So... you... are... Maura Isles?" Frankie looked across at the woman with long blonde hair eyeballing the ID that he had been provided in an evidence baggie by the patrol officer that had brought her in.

"Yes, Detective." The blonde shifted slightly in her chair and looked at Frankie slowly blinking her overly made up blue eyes. "I really don't understand what's going on here." She shook her head.

"Maybe we're just having a little misunderstanding." Frankie purposefully smiled sweetly at her. "How about you just tell me a little bit about yourself, like what your occupation is?" He picked up the platinum American express card. "I have to admit they don't give you one of these when you fill out police officer on the form." He gave a soft laugh that she joined in with.

"Oh that's more to do with my husband than me." 'Maura' laughed brightly and shook her head. "I'm not ashamed to admit I'm pretty much a kept woman. Nor do I complain about it obviously."

"Did you attend BCU?" He asked purposefully opening up his file to act as if he was confirming details.

"I took a course but I dropped out when I met my husband." The blonde gave Frankie a sweet smile.

"I've tried to give you every opportunity to do this the easy way but clearly you think that a little bat of your eyelashes and smile are going to get you out of this room but I'm afraid it's time for your wake up call." Frankie slipped his hand into the folder and slipped out a picture of Maura. "This is Maura Isles, Doctor Maura Isles, Doctor Maura Isles who is the Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You still want to claim you're her or can we move forward?" He looked at her with hard eyes.

"I have a twin?" The other tried with arched eyebrows.

"Right." Frankie gave a tight laugh. "Twin or not, what you need to understand is that this credit card..." He held it up. "The one you tried to use, was stolen from the Medical Examiner when someone hit her with a car they had stolen and tried to murder her. While the Medical Examiner was unconscious on the ground injured someon stole her running pack." He raised his eyebrows. "But you know that already don't you." He saw how immediately she began to shirk into her chair. "You know about the elderly woman who died after your partner stuck her with a different stolen car, and you certainly know about the other fifteen people that were hit and almost killed in order to steal their credit cards. You know about all that don't you, even if you don't seem to know you're not Maura Isles."

"Hey, no no, I don't know what you're talking about, I just get the cards, get a matching license made up in case anything I buy needs some kind of authentication ID and buy the goods." She shook her head over and over. "I don't know nothing about no Doctor and no dead old woman." She shifted uncomfortably in her chair as her high class accent dropped to a more common Boston one. "Ricky just get's a card or two when he's on the streets. I don't know nothing about no stealing cars or hurting people, Ricky don't even know how to drive."

"Ricky got a last name? Address? Phone number?" Frankie slid a pad of paper over towards her.

-x-

"Think Ricky is the driver or our hipster?" Korsak looked through the two way mirror at Frankie as he continued to grill their fraudster for details.

"Well if she's telling the truth and Ricky can't drive he can't be the driver." Jane shook her head. "And to be honest I think the driver is the brains behind the operation, he probably found Bonnie and Clyde on the street, I bet we'll find they have a list of misdemeanors as long as their arms, nothing major, but enough street crime to make them noticeable to the 'right' person."

"Yeah, seems also that our driver takes the big risk of stealing the car and hitting the victim, while our duo are left to liquidate and commit the frauds with the credit cards. Bet he also gets the biggest slice of the pie." Korsak appraised. "We're going to have to fingerprint her and ID who she really is and do background and set up surveillance on Ricky, why don't you swing over to the hospital and see if there is any update on the patient?" He urged her softly. "You'll just owe me paperwork hours on the next case."

"Are you sure?" Jane actually smiled, happy at the prospect.

"Yeah, you know this part is hurry up and wait." He nodded. "I'll keep you updated on any information that comes in." He assured her. "And you'll know if we're making a move on Ricky."

-x-

It didn't take Angela more than a moment when she entered the front lobby of the hospital to locate her tall daughter, her mane of brunette hair always making her cut a distinct silhouette in a crowd. She quickly made her way around a slower moving group to bring her to Jane's side as quickly as she could.

"Hi Janie." Angela kept her greeting tone neutral seeing the serious look on Jane's face from more than a few feet away. "Did you get a break in the case?" She asked the question even if in some ways she knew it couldn't be too significant if Jane was here at the hospital.

"Maybe." Jane vaguely nodded. "If it pans out then yes but we're not there yet. You know how it is Ma, some cases you think are one thing and then you find out that they are something else." She offered. "How is Maura?" She asked nodding towards a bench just by the entrance that miraculously was empty.

"She's anxious to go home." Angela sat down and made the easy admission. "The nurses assured us Dr. Bester should be in to see her any time and she's pretty much assuming that he'd going to release her."

"I hope he does." Jane admitted honestly sitting down beside her, fidgeting with her scarred hand instantly.

"What's going on baby?" Angela dropped her voice lower reaching over to put her hand on Jane's leg, knowing not to take her hand when she was fiddling with her scars.

"I'm a mess Ma." Jane admitted rather surprisingly.

"How are you a mess?" The older woman prompted not quite sure what might be prompting this wide sweeping statement from her daughter.

"Ever since this happened I can't think straight." Jane leaned her hands on her knees in an attempt to stop playing with her scar. "I just think about what ifs, and all the things that could have happened." She explained. "I can't focus on the case, I could barely look at the suspect we brought in I just wanted to get in at her and..." The detective's body tensed. "And it's not like we know Maur's gonna be okay."

"Jane, Maura is going to be okay. I know she's mixing up things about your relationship, but other than that she was lucky. Her wrist will heal, the bruises will fade." Angela assured her of the reality as she understood it.

"But how it's made me feel won't." Jane shook her head.

"Explain to me how you feel." Angela urged her in a gentle voice.

Instead of actually saying anything else Jane pushed her hand into her blazer pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and pushed it towards her mother.

Angela looked at it curiously as she took it, unfolded it and then began to look over the picture and details of an exquisite antique Edwardian enamel diamond engagement ring. Her eyes widened not only when she saw that it had been dated as being created in close to 1880 but when she was the rather expensive price tag as well.

"It's beautiful Jane." Angela ran her finger over the picture. "There is only one woman I could think who this ring would be perfect for."

"I want to be with her forever Ma." Jane's voice was almost volume-less.

"Oh baby." Angela held the paper in one hand and immediately pulled her other arm around Jane pulling her closer. "Then why the long face?" She rocked the both slightly. "This is a time to be happy, to be excited... your heart has made a choice, a good one I want to add. I know that if there is one person on this earth I trust to take care of you, it's Maura."

"Because what if she doesn't want me?"Jane admitted her very real fear.

"Don't be ridiculous." Angela rejected the idea immediately. "Maura loves you, don't doubt that. I know right now things seem clouded by how she's acting but the truth is baby without this horrible accident you'd never have been put in a situation where you could get this clarity. Never get to feel what it was like when Maura wasn't keeping her feelings hidden, but you have. And now you know how beautiful, how perfect the two of you could be together? Cuddled up in her arms, feels like home doesn't it?"

Jane nodded wordlessly, oddly still leaning against her mother's body.

"And what does it really matter if this is how you found out how you felt? You know now, you can't go back..." Angela gave a squeeze. "And what that really means is deciding how you want this to continue. Do you want to tell her that you're not together, that her concussion is clouding the past but immediately tell her how you want the future to be? Or do you want to see how her memories progress, and be ready for the moment when she does realize what is really the past." She asked softly.

"I don't know." Jane admitted now taking the time to pull back into herself. "I think maybe I want to wait for her brain to work out what's what... but if I do that I'm worried that she'll be mad...disappointed... I don't know." She shook her head.

"You need to take a minute and not think like yourself, you need to think like Maura." Angela gave her another squeeze. "Now if I know Maura, and I like to think I do... she's going to be embarrassed Jane, after all her big brain is going to leap very quickly to the reality that no matter what her memory came up with, you've played along in an attempt not to make it harder on her. She's going to be disappointed and mad at herself, not you, because if she has realized all this time that she's been in love with you she's going to feel as if her brain has betrayed itself. Given away her deepest secret and then she's going to be afraid, afraid she's going to lose you because of what she 'forced' onto you." She summed up. "Sound about right?"

Jane nodded having to admit that it did indeed sound like something the ME would come up with.

"So what you need to be ready for is what you're going to say, how your going to respond when she finally realizes the truth." Angela guided her. "Because for once my darling, I think you're going to need to not only be prepared to talk about your feelings, a lot..." She smiled softly. "But be pushy, she's going to assume you're doing this for her, but you need to make sure she understand this is about what you feel. How much it hurt you when you realized you could have lost her? How much you were thankful when you found her bruised but alive, how you realized you want to spend the rest of your life together."

"That's why I want to take a couple of days off, I want to be around for the next little while, I want to be right beside her to give her all the support and confirmation she needs and..." Jane paused. "Be there when it all catches up with her." She admitted. "Not that I can guarantee that, I know that, but I just want to spend some time with her."

"I think it's a good idea, to be around her, to support her." Angela agreed with her daughter's plan. "I'm also very proud of you, you know that right?"

"You are?" Jane frowned shaking her head. "Why? Everything is such a mess. I mean I have an engagement ring in a safety deposit box to give back to the father of the baby I'm carrying, an antique solitaire on hold in an antique shop on Hasting Street for my best friend who I want to help me raise that baby with and she doesn't know about any of it."

"I'm proud of you Jane because you're making the choices 'you' want to make." Angela tried to help her see the reason for her words. "Since everything happened with your father, I've had a lot of time to think and to inspect some of the choices I've made in my life Jane and while I don't regret any of my children, you are the joy of my life, I do regret letting things get away from me, I regret not doing some of the things I wanted to do, becoming the woman I wanted to become." She looked at her daughter with a soft smile. "Marrying Charles would have been easy, especially with the baby, even if it meant giving up everything that makes you Jane Rizzoli. Letting yourself be swayed by history and the pressure to be something you're not, would have been a mistake. And right now... here you are, facing the only thing you've ever been afraid of Janie... love, giving your heart away, letting your emotions guide you. That's why I'm proud of you."

Jane took a breath and nodded, pausing for a moment before she smiled softly at the older Rizzoli.

"You think she'll like the ring?" She asked softly and at first Angela gave her a soft nod.

"Tell me why you picked this one for Maura?" Angela lifted the photo again so they could both see it.

"Because it's beautiful, it's a one of a kind, a piece of history, a work of art..." Jane began. "When she's bored she can Google its history." Jane's serious look morphed into a smirk.

"You know what I think when I look at it too?" Angela grinned at her. "It's not perfect, it's been worn and torn by life but that doesn't change how beautiful it is, just like you baby."

"But worth more than my apartment!" Jane grinned. "Well no, but more than a couple of payments." She laughed brightly.

"I'm trying not to look at the price tag, can you really afford that?" Angela checked softly.

"Over time." Jane nodded. "Maura's worth it. If it wasn't like me and roughed up and scarred it would be like triple that."

"Then it's meant to be. This ring has worked its way in this world for not quite 150 years to make it's way to Boston and to you so that you can help show her how much you love her." Angela moved to pull Jane up. "Come on, she's going to be wondering where I am, and seeing you will help distract her if the doctor hasn't been there yet."

-x-

"Hey beautiful." Jane opened the door to Maura's room open but didn't push inside initially, she just stood in the doorway looking in at the blonde with a soft smile.

"Jane!" Maura immediately sat up more in bed and looked towards the door, her eyes and face showing her instant joy. "You have the best timing, the doctor was just here and should be signing my release papers any moment." She grinned even more.

"Then it seems I do have great timing." Jane took long strides from the door to the bed and wrapped her arms around the blonde and kissed her boldly but briefly on the lips. "Mmmm hello." She held on a little longer than the kiss lingered.

"Hello to you too." Maura enjoyed every moment of the kiss and being held in Jane's arms. "How are you two doing? Did this morning's upset stomach ease off?"

"Not really." Jane admitted shaking her head. "I haven't eaten yet though." She added. "I know it'll get better if you're getting the all clear to come home though." She eased back to look at Maura. "You look tired, you still in as much pain as this morning?"

"It's not pain, just discomfort." Maura shook her head softly. "The thumping in my head has gone from being constant to intermittent now, which is a vast improvement. Dr. Bester warned me that the change of location and the car ride home will probably make my recover seem to slide back in the short term, but he warned me several times to remember that it can take weeks to recover from a concussion." She gave a soft laugh. "He also quoted the old adage about doctor's making the worst patients."

"I see well in that case maybe I'll cancel that request I made to Korsak to get time to stay with you." Jane teased.

"No." Maura objected immediately. "You promised."

"I know and I wouldn't go back on it, I want to spend the time with you." Jane admitted easily. "Though Ma's going to be playing me for most of the day today, after I get you home and settled." She underlined.

"That's okay, gives me all the motivation I need to get lots of rest when I get home, and be recharged by the time you get in from work." Maura outlined to reassure her.

"Are you happy with everything Dr. Bester said to you? With the scans and the results?" Jane eased herself onto the edge of the bed.

"Yes, very." The ME agreed instantly. "He was very pleased with the scans, thinks that the concussion should clear up given time and enough rest. He won't clear me to go back to work, but he thinks that once the other physical injuries heal, it will be the orthopedics specialist clearing my wrist that will hold me back the most."

"That's good, no that's great." The brunette smiled easier and put her hand over Maura's legs, resting it on the blonde's thigh. "I so want to get you home." She squeezed it a little.

"As soon as the nurse arrives with my discharge papers, instructions and prescriptions we are able to go. How about you help me get dressed and we pack everything up so we can be ready to go right away?" Maura offered, as anxious as Jane to put this part of her recovery behind her.

"Sounds good." Jane pushed up and moved over to the small closet in the room. "I brought yoga clothes for you to come home in."

"Mmm real clothes. The last time I was in pajamas for this long was when I donated my kidney." Maura admitted slipping to the edge of the bed in a more fluid move but with some obvious discomfort. "It seemed more justified then."

"Both times were justified." Jane shook her head as she brought the small collection of clothes over to the bed. "See I even brought you your favourite blue and white striped yoga shirt." She unfolded and held up the soft top. "How is this always this soft?" She rubbed the fabric between her fingers as she held it.

"The cotton is organic and carefully brushed, dyed with natural colouring and hand spun." Maura outlined with a soft smile. "I could order you one if you like it that much."

"I actually really like it on you." Jane admitted with a softer smile as she moved closer around the front of the blonde. "Need me to get your buttons?"

"Yes please." Maura lifted her chin a little sitting up as straight as she could to make the move easier. "You've never said you liked it before, you usually like to poke fun at me when I'm suddenly in my 'slumming' clothes as you joke."

"Because your slumming it clothes cost more than my going out clothes." Jane laughed in return moving her hands to the top button on Maura's pj's.

"You are rough on your clothes." Maura reminded her gently as Jane's fingers worked their way down the buttons one after the other. "Though I'm looking forward to buying you maternity wear to spoil you."

"Really?" Jane actually felt a smile pull at her lips at the idea as she released the last button and then moved her hands up to eased the soft silk from Maura's shoulders. "Think you could go bra-less just for a day?" She teased softly as she put the pj top aside and picked up the striped top again.

"Hmmmmrmmm." Maura made a contemplative noise. "I could... I guess... do you think it would be inappropriate?"

"Yes." Jane quickly slipped the wide necked top over Maura's head. "And I can smile all day thinking about it." She added with a wink.

"Just for that pick me up, I will forgo a bra." Maura conceded with a soft smirk, trying to help by lifting her injured arm for Jane to slip it into the sleeve.

With extreme care Jane slipped eased the top into place, sliding her arms around her before easing back, bringing her lips to the blonde's neck without thinking about it and kissing lightly the newly exposed skin that was on display with the 'real' clothing.

"Mmmm maybe I should not wear a bra on casual home days more often." Maura teased in a sexy tone.

It was Maura's tone as well as her words that Jane realize exactly what she was doing.

"Sorry." She apologized, a soft blush colouring her cheek. "That's not helping you get dressed." She admonished herself.

"Jane..." Maura's voice was soft as she reached up to cup the brunette's cheek before she moved to far away. "It might not be helping me get dressed but it is helping me, to feel like I'm okay, that we're okay... that maybe one day soon I won't be a tiny fragile tea cup anymore."

"You're a beautiful china tea cup." Jane smiled back at her, her dark eyes taking a long lingering look at the ME's face before she leaned in and kissed the blonde slowly but passionately, her teeth grazing on her bottom lip as she pulled back.

"I love you so much Jane." Maura's eyes were warmed with arousal and heavy emotion.

"I love you Maura." Jane moved her hand to stroke over honey brown hair leaning in to kiss her again, her other hand slipping onto the blonde's waist.

Maura kissed her back, enjoying the close contact especially with the simple fact being dressed in a real sweater made her feel more 'normal' then she had since she'd woken up in emergency. She slipped her other hand up press her fingertips to Jane's cheek, pulling her closer as she pressed deeper into the kiss, letting her tongue first tease the brunette's lips before she pressed softly into her lover's mouth.

Jane felt her eyes drop closed, her hand lightly tightening Maura's waist as a soft moan pressed from her throat into her mouth and into their kiss. The moan only made Maura press harder into the kiss, feeling her body heat up as she let her good hand slide back into dark hair.

"Maur..." Jane's moan grew into a full groan of the blonde's name the second time as she shifted slightly closer to the bed, her hand sliding around Maura's waist to her back against the soft brushed cotton top.

"Jane..." Maura moaned the brunette's name back in almost the same tone. Pulling Jane backwards almost to urge her back onto the bed, the ME seeming to forget that they were in the hospital room or that anyone could walk in on them. For her it was just about Jane, the proximity of their bodies and her love for the brunette.

"Hey you two..." It was Angela's voice from the doorway that made Jane jump back to focus just as she was about to dip down with Maura towards the bed. "Hey, hey hey, enough of that." She clapped her hands and walked over playfully swatting at her daughter's arm. "I could have been anybody." She added.

"Sorry Ma." Jane blushed red. "Maur." She added looking sheepishly at the blonde.

"You don't have to apologize to me." Maura blushed softly sitting up straight again. "Jane was just helping me get prepared for when the nurse returns with my release papers."

"That's just what it looked like."Angela rolled her eyes. "And Janie you got distracted when her top came off huh?" She looked at her daughter with an arch of her eyebrows. "You are your father's daughter." She admonished the raven haired detective. "You go get a wheel chair while I finish what you couldn't with out losing your mind or focus."

All Maura could do was giggle as Jane somehow blushed more at the comparison and literally shuffled in place before she pushed off towards the door trying to hide the growing redness in her cheeks.

"You love doing that to her don't you?" Maura smiled at Angela.

"I love that my baby girl is in love, it makes her happy and so much more fun than when she doesn't have that element of whimsy in her to poke at." Angela beamed.

"I'm glad to be even the cause of a small part of it." Maura smiled as she moved to stand up to slip out of her pajama pants as Angela readied her yoga pants to help her slip them on.

"You're all of it." Angela beamed at the blonde shaking her head. "Don't think anything else for a minute."

-x-

While Maura's homecoming had been filled with a definite sense of happiness, she also had to admit that the drive there had been a flurry of activity and noise. Even if Jane had driven rather sedately for the brunette, not weaving in and out of traffic to gain a few feet of distance or taking wild turns into a short cut she'd suddenly set her mind onto. As she finally found the couch coming underneath her, Jane's strong arms guiding her down until she was fully supported by the cushions, she felt a sense of relief wash over her but had to admit that was simply due to her need to focus on her head and stop fighting gravity.

"I'm sorry, I know the doctor warned me about this, that I understand the mechanics of a concussion but I've never personally experienced this level of impairment before." She apologized softly to Jane who moved immediately to pull the throw off the nearby arm and begin to unfold it to put it over the blonde's body. "In the future when you do heroic things that involve you getting hurt I'm not going to take your word on the level of pain you're in anymore, I'm going to double whatever you say..." She put her good hand up to her forehead. "Maybe even triple it."

"Let me make tea Maura." Angela called helpfully from the kitchen giving her daughter a brief look of. 'Take care of her!'

"Then I'm just going to say a lower number." Jane smiled softly coming to crouch down beside the side of the couch, moving her hand to very light glide over Maura's hair. "And I don't want to hear 'I'm sorry'." She added even softer. "You got hit by a car Maur, every little step is a major one, take your time and take it easy." She underlined softly. "I wish I didn't have to go back to the precinct but I do." She frowned softly. "But I will be back as soon as I can be." She added quickly. "If you're up to it, think about what you want for dinner and get Ma to throw me a text." She smiled. "I can pick it up on the way home." She curled a honey brown lock of hair around Maura's ear.

"I don't think I can think about food right now but I will try later." Maura rewarded her with the tiniest nod. "And I understand that you have to get back to work Jane, I really do." She added trying to give the most 'stable' look into dark eyes that she could, even if she hated to admit the world was a little off kilter like she was on a boat in choppy water. "I'm going to lie down, have some tea and try to rest for the next few hours, it would be boring for you at best." She reasoned gently. "Just... be safe." She underlined feeling a thread of irrational fear strike her suddenly and she without wanting to she found herself twisting her head sharply to the right, willing to swear suddenly that she could see a flash of light. As she did her whole body jumped in a startled response that she immediately regretted as it caused pain to flare through both her head, her side and her arm all at the same time.

"Hey, hey... easy..." Jane started too, moving both hands to unnecessarily steady the blonde. "What's wrong?" She asked, somewhat foolishly finding herself checking the point in the room to the side that Maura had quickly turned.

"I don't know..." Maura admitted a little confused and trying to calm her suddenly quick breathing. "I... a light... a flash..." She turned her head more slowly this time as if trying to make sense of the split second of memory. "I... I think I heard an engine... it revved up..." She reached out and gripped Jane's hand. "If that's how my memory of the accident is going to come back I'm not sure I want it too." She admitted with a soft frown letting out a long slower breath.

Jane's brow was firmly fixed in a soft frown.

"Me either." She agreed easily. "Don't try and push it, and if anything else like that happens call me, I know they gave you the all clear but I want to mention it to someone at the hospital if it happens more than once." The brunette fretted. "Tell ma and call me, okay." She stroked her hand down Maura's cheek ever so lightly and cupped her chin.

"I will, I promise." Maura relented with a soft nod into Jane's hand. "Now go, I'm fine." She blinked and seemed to find her equilibrium again. "It's probably just because I'm overtired, neurons are trying to reestablish chemical links to the memories and being overtaxed. I'm going to close my eyes and wait for my tea."

"Your eye mask is in the bag." Jane reminded pointing to the large back that had come back with them. "I'll call in an hour or so to see how things are, but I'll call Ma's cell so it won't wake you if you're sleeping." She outlined softly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Maura underlined confidently feeling silly for the jumpy moment. "I'm home, and in a few hours you'll be home with me." She smiled lovingly at the brunette.

"I do worry." Jane confirmed with a shake of her head. "And I know fundamentally you're fine, but I still worry." She pushed up onto her feet. "I'm glad you're home." She said with a loving smile.

"So am I." Maura slowly leaned over and reclined back onto an over sized pillow. "Though... aren't you forgetting something?"

Jane frowned patting her pocket for her keys, tipping her head as she looked at the blonde, a slim amused smile coming to her lips when she saw the slight look of expectation on Maura's face. Reach out she smoothed blonde locks back off Maura's face again with infinite care and gentleness before she leaned in and hovered in place, her lips millimeters away from the ME's

"See you soon Squishy." She whispered closing the gap between their lips.

"I'll be right here where you left me waiting impatiently for your return." Maura breathed out when their lips parted again, calmed and comforted by the fact that Jane had instantly realized what she'd been hinting at. Almost contently she closed her eyes and snuggled into place finding the best position for her cast.

Angela had been half watching from the kitchen and when Jane finally got up, she motioned her over to the island.

"Anything odd, I will call... she'll be fine baby." Angela assured her gently, holding out a small plastic baggy. "The simple pleasure social tea cookies that don't upset your stomach, you need to eat."

"Thank you, Maura would freak if she knew I'd not kept anything down all day." Jane took the bag willingly.

"As is your mother." Angela frowned at her. "Janie..." She was about to being a tirade but then stopped herself. "I know, I know..." She stopped her own words before they could being. "The last two days have not been normal days, not even for you." She admitted with a soft smile. "How about I make Grandma's gnocchi recipe for dinner? It will be easy on your stomach and on Maura's, but enough for her to take her pills." She offered knowing that no matter how well intentioned her words of warning and worry would be, Jane had so much on her plate right now she really probably needed support more than anything.

"That would be great Ma." Jane moved over and kissed her mother on the side of the head. "I will call in a couple of hours to let you know how the case is going and to give you an idea of how late I am going to be." She added, pulling away before her mother could catch her in anything resembling a hug. "Be safe both of you." She moved towards the back door.

-x-


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Six**

"Why is it you get a girlfriend and I get harassed by our mother about how I'm not looking after my sister in her time of need?" Frankie walked up to Jane's desk depositing a paper bag and then a bottle of chilled water on her desk. "Sixteen texts, half of which came after I agreed to go out and get you something healthy to eat." He rolled his eyes playfully. "How come you get Maura and I get to be a waiter?"

"Sorry." Jane looked up with an apologetic frown. "I'll talk to her, it's not your fault I can't stomach anything." She shook her head and looked back at the screen in front of her, her frown turning even deeper.

"I'm only ribbing you 'cause I'm jealous. What's wrong?" Frankie saw the look and moved around to get a better look at the screen. "Dr. 'Not Maura Isles' is locked up tight, prints say she's Sasha MacIntyre and so far we've got Ricky's two main meet up places under surveillance so that if anyone vaguely resembles that hipster comes by we're ready for him."

"What's wrong is that the real problem is still out there." Jane verbalized pinching the top of her nose. "And I've been thinking about it, and looking at the pattern and location of the hits." She nodded to the map on the note board. "I seriously doubt Sasha and Ricky are his only to footmen." She pointed out her point of concern. "Look at the locations, look at the distance between them and the difference in type." She pointed out. "Our 'hipster' Ricky might fit right in wandering in a park or down by the water... but here..." She shook her head point to a wealthy suburb where one of the incidents had been reported. "That kind of place don't have the 'unkempt' walking the streets just because it's a nice day."

"You're right." Frankie moved around and pulled a chair over by her desk. "I was thinking too... follow me here, so you want to make a few quick bucks... there are a hell of a lot of easier ways to do it then to first steal a car, then find a pedestrian and then hit them so you're partner can steal maybe a credit card and a phone, right? The guy organizing all of this, has to have a bigger motivation doesn't he? I know people take stupid risks all the time but setting yourself up for car theft, vehicular homicide, even attempted just to get if you're lucky a few hundred bucks? That's a lot of work for a tiny bit of reward."

"We're missing something, someone maybe." Jane nodded. "But what that is I don't know." She pushed her hand back through her hair. "I'm pretty sure that Winter's death was an accident, all the other hit an run's have been strategic enough in the choice of victims, all young to early middle aged, apparently healthy individuals." Jane pointed out. "But not limited to a particular gender or socio – ethnic group." She frowned more. "So I don't see how the missing link is the victim choice. It's something else." She pushed out a hard breath.

"What if this guy just gets off on hitting people with a car?" Frankie gave a slight grimace.

"Oddest kink ever." Jane arched her eyebrow but sighed. "I guess it's possible." The brunette was about to reach out for the bag Frankie had brought in with him when Korsak hurried in with a look of intensity about him.

"I have something I need you both to look at." He nodded them over to his desk. "I've been doing some checking of some of the other incident reports, and looking at what evidence, if any was gathered and I came across this..." He pointed to his computer as he plugged in a smart drive. "It's footage from a security camera from a store across from the hit after Winters was killed..." He explained glancing at the two detectives for a moment before letting the footage run.

It was a fairly bad copy and of course the road wasn't the main focus of the camera, but a dark sedan could be clearly seen at one point careening into a pedestrian. Korsak stopped the play and zoomed the camera. Turning again to look at both Jane and Frankie to see their reactions to what was quite clearly on the screen. In the dark sedan was not one, but two people.

"The driver has a co-pilot?" Frankie spat out the observation first. "Maybe our kink angle wasn't so far off Jane."

"What's he holding?" Jane squinted at the monitor screen, the distant out of focus shot made it impossible to see. "The passenger is holding something, their hand is raised..." She pointed to the computer. "See they're not holding onto the belt bracing for impact, they're holding onto something."

"You're right..." Frankie leaned in to squint at the screen. "Oh no..." He cursed suddenly and moved around towards Jane's desk beginning to poke at her computer. "I bet it's one of those adventure cameras, you know the high digital image ones people are using to capture themselves doing anything that normally you couldn't. They have image stabilization, filters, some even come with head or body rigs so you can do it hands free." He continued to poke at the computer. "What if our perps are hitting these people so they can capture it on video and then upload it to the internet? People put together hundreds of tapes of accidents, stupid stunts and whatever else they think will get other people to click and generate views on their accounts."

Jane's head snapped round to stare at her brother.

"Find them, find them now." She pointed to her computer snapping her fingers as her long legs took her towards the elevators.

"Jane... Jane where are you going?" Frankie frowned.

"To talk to not Dr. Isles." She snarled. "If she knows anything, and I mean anything else that she hasn't told us, I'm going to make her sorry she ever woke up this morning."

-x-

Frankie stood in front of the screens in the BRIC with a frown on his face, waiting until Korsak and his sister settled into their chairs.

"Before you ask, I already have the head office of the video hosting service working on getting me all the information they have on this guy but I thought you might want to see these." He turned and cued up the first one and for approximately thirty seconds, which displayed the front window of a car as it went down the road and then a few seconds later purposefully pointed and hit a middle aged man in a suit, music dubbed in to highlight the important points as the scene replayed in various degrees of zoom. "This is the first one, it has nearly 300,000 hits." He frowned as he looked at them all. "There are dozens of other ones, some are older and some are foreign so I think maybe this guy is pulling off video from the internet as well as making his own. And before you ask Jane... the one of Maura isn't up yet." He answered the unspoken question first. "We also know for sure what the motive is, because this site has a re-numeration program, registered posters who can manage over a half million hits on their channel get a penny for every thousand hits and considering that some of his later posts have topped two million hits, he's making thousand of dollars on each video he can get to go viral."

Jane winced and turned away from the screen as the second collision was shown in graphic slow-mo from a dozen different zooms, shaking her head.

"I don't get humanity, I really don't." She breathed out.

"And people think the internet is a good thing, then I see things like this and I wish we'd stayed away from all things technological." Korsak frowned as well.

"He's been cross posting these on a half dozen or so hosting sites, so there's a chance he's figured out that he can make more money running over people then getting a real job." Frankie added his disgust. "You don't need to see all of them." He clicked off the third video. "Korsak, can you work your magic on getting a warrant, so far the first hosting site is being co-operative since they reviewed the videos and saw the content was against their posting rules." He raised an eyebrow to point out the irony of that. "But the other sites might not be as co-operative."

"I'm on it, I know just the judge to call." Korsak nodded pushing up to stand. "We're on hold until this information comes in, it's late... why don't you two go get some rest and I'll call you in when we get an address to move on?"

Jane instantly glanced at her watched and frowned when she realized just how late it had got.

"You sure?" She slipped of the edge of the desk she was sitting on.

"Yeah, I got this one." Korsak assured them both. "We'll see you in the morning."

-x-

Angela was in the kitchen going through the motions of making dinner since she'd gotten the call from her daughter that the detective was finally on her way home.

"Hey baby." The older woman smiled at the detective her voice soft. "She's dozing upstairs, why don't you go have a shower? You have time before this is ready."

"How has she been?" Jane asked leaning in to steal a slice of carrot.

"Tired, glad to be home, worried about you." Angela smiled softly at her. "How are you doing? Any news on the case?"

"Lots, none of it nice." Jane nodded. "It's a lot bigger than just a random hit and run, and a lot grimmer. The only good thing is that it wasn't that Maura was targeted, in fact the fact that it was her was probably the worst thing that could have happened, for them that is." She gave a soft sigh. "We'll get them, all of them, it's just going to take a little time." She sighed and leaned against the work top. "We're waiting on warrants and a little tech magic."

"You'll get them honey, this isn't your first rodeo." Angela assured her. "And you're right, the worst thing that they could have ever done is hit Maura, because that meant getting you angry." She pointed out soft assurance. "Clearly they didn't read the papers about the past exploits of Detective Jane Rizzoli."

"Thanks." Jane actually smiled at her mother. "Actually I think they pissed off the whole of BPD so times that anger by a couple of dozen." She smiled more. "I'm gonna hit the shower."

"I took the liberty of putting your things in Maura's room, so use her en-suite." Angela prompted her softly glancing towards the living room. "Like you always do." She grinned softly.

Jane who had already taken steps in her mind towards the guest room stopped and turned to move in the other direction.

"Good call." She nodded and moved quickly off.

-x-

Slipping first into the master bedroom Jane's eyes obviously were drawn to the bed, a soft smile coming to her lips as she looked at the blonde lying in the comfort of her own sheets. As if drawn to the her side Jane moved to the bed and leaned ever so softly in and air kissed her forehead.

"Jane?" Maura seemed to stir almost on automatic, even though the brunette had done nothing to disturb her. Her hazel eyes opened slowly and sluggishly at first, but in a few blinks she was focusing in on the tall woman who was still leaned over her. "You're home." A pleased smile pulled at her features.

"I didn't mean to wake you." Jane backed up slightly, sinking down to sit on the mattress.

"I know, it's okay." Maura assured her. "I seem quite good at dozing off at a moments notice." She gave a soft laugh. "Angela suggested I come up here when my arm kept falling off the couch." She wiggled the cast slightly.

"This way you have less chance of falling anywhere." Jane pointed out logically. "How is being home feeling?"

"Great." Maura made the easy admittance. "It's quiet and comfortable, and there is room for both of us, I doubt that z-bed was comfy for you last night." She pointed out softly.

"It wasn't and I'm looking forward to your comfor-pedic mattress." She winked at the blonde. "You look better, which is stupid of me to say because you still look all bruised and cut up but..." Jane smiled more. "You look better." She repeated the phrase and leaned in kissing the tip of Maura's nose. "Where as I smell like the BRIC, so I should shower."

"I would offer to join you so that I could stop smelling like hospital but..." She wiggled the cast. "Maybe later if we're up to it you could help me wrap it up and help me take a bath?" She made the gentle realistic offer.

"I think that's going to wait for a day or so." Jane eyed her a little. "How about a sponge bath after I'm done?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Ohhh Detective, I like the way you think." Maura's bruised and battered face lit up at her. "Go take your shower, you have yourself a deal."

"I've missed that smile." Jane pushed to the edge of the bed and got up with a wink.

-x-

"What Ma?" Jane came downstairs in response to her mother's yell after she had slipped into her track pants and a t-shirt, she vaguely pressed a small towel into her hair to soak out more of the residual wetness that always clung to the dense locks for a long time after she'd gotten out of the shower.

"I have what you need ready." Angela turned at the counter with a nearly cheek cracking smile on her face as she picked up a towel and moved to sling it over Jane's shoulder along with a matching face cloth. She turned back and picked up the large porcelain bowl and moved back to hold it out to Jane. "You didn't think this out sweetheart, but good luck." She continued to grin.

"Didn't think what out?" Jane's look turned to one of confusion as her mother loaded her up and she reached to take the heavy bowl.

"Sponge bath Janie?" Angela moved back and reached to pick up a wrapped bar of soap, leaning to slip it into her daughter's pocket.

"I'm just going to help Maur out washing..." Jane stopped her mind shifting to the shower she had just taken, and then to the blonde and then to the fact that they were now 'dating'. "Oh crap." She whispered the word. "I didn't think this through." She looked at her mother with wide brown eyes. "Can I do it with her keeping her top on?" She asked of the older Rizzoli.

"I don't think it's her top you should be worrying about." Angela gave an amused snort. "Go get 'em sport." She laughed more. "You've got about a half hour until dinner so get moving."

Jane nearly dropped the gorgeous porcelain bowl at her mother's words and made a squawking noise in her throat but pressed off towards the stairs.

-x-

Jane carefully eased the large bowl carefully down on the beside table before putting the towels and things on the chair that obviously Angela had brought up close to the bed when she was sitting with Maura earlier.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" The brunette asked as she dropped her own wet towel off from her hair into a small pile onto the laundry.

"Yes, I think you were right, the change of temperature in a bath might have resulted in my body systems being too overwhelmed." Maura admitted moving her sit up and began to try and undo the buttons on her pj top. "I also need to rid myself of some of the hospital smell, which I know is a little ridiculous considering I spend my life spiced with antiseptics and cleaners but the ones they use aren't the same ones I'm used to. If that makes any sense."

"Of course it does." Jane moved quickly to help with the usually simple task, quickly resulting in the five buttons being undone. The detective then eased a hair tie off her wrist and moved her hands to gather Maura's hair up in a loose ponytail. "We don't want to get this wet." She smiled as she secured it with care. "Can you get your top off while I get the largest towel, I thought I'd lay it behind you so you could lay back at any time in case you felt funny."

"Very thoughtful of you." Maura nodded as she worked to shed the light silk top with ease now that it was open. She didn't notice how Jane seemed to be busying herself with the towel and other small things for now, her own eyes traveling down her naked body to see the angry dark bruises and scab bumpy road rash. "I didn't realize it was quite this bad." She ran one finger over the dark black expanse of the bruise on the edge of her breast.

"It's not that bad, you're still beautiful." Jane turned and moved back to the bed taking a quick breath before she pulled back the sheet and comforter completely to fully reveal the rest of Maura's body, though it was still covered in deep pink silk. "You want to do this in two halves?" Jane asked moving back to the bowl and sinking the soft light pink face cloth she had in her hands into the water, wrapping it around the soap.

"It's probably easier to just slip them off, that I can do." She smiled as she pushed up slowly to stand and pulling the drawstring tie it barely took a wiggle and slight push for the pants to slid down her body. In another soft step she was out of them and she moved back to sit on the towel that Jane had placed. "Has your hair always held onto water so easily?" She reached out her good hand twirling a long super curly strand of black hair around her finger as Jane prepped the cloth.

"It has, costs a fortune in conditioner and I go through hairdryers." Jane smirked. "Give me that hand." She chuckled and held out her hand for Maura's taking it lightly as the blonde immediately offered it. Jane lightly laid the lathered up face cloth on the blonde's wrist and pressed it up over her arm up to her shoulder. "Tell me if I'm pressing down too hard." She instructed as she flipped the cloth before smoothing it in the soft bow around Maura's low throat.

"You won't, but I will." Maura's body instantly seemed to relax as the warm soapy cloth dragged over her skin and the soft scent of the soap filled her senses. "Mmmmm." She let out a soft noise of contentment as Jane repeated the motion.

Jane pulled a slow breath in through her nose as she let the third pass press down over Maura's injured arm to the top of the cast, careful to avoid any grazes or open cuts, before she rinsed the cloth of suds and cleaned off the washed skin.

"Freckles." Jane said without thinking about what was coming out of her mouth as she passed a sudsy cloth down lower over the very tops of Maura's breasts and down to tuck in under her arms.

Maura gave a soft laugh as she opened her eyes again, knowing where Jane's hands had traveled by the feel of the wash cloth but she looked almost to check where Jane's eyes were.

"It's okay Jane, even if technically this is part of my recovery, you're allowed to enjoy it." She teased softly see dark eyes skimming over her breasts.

Jane's eyes came up to look into hazel ones.

"I think your freckles are cute." She covered with a smile keeping her eyes on Maura's as she let her hand draw the face cloth around the natural curve of Maura's left breast, feeling her heart beat a little faster as she did so, her own nipples tightening, her core pulsing with arousal at the feeling of warm skin even through the material. Again she cursed herself softly for not thinking this through before she'd made the offer, but another part of her mind told her to get a grip. After all Maura was hurt and was she so immature that she couldn't help the most important woman in the world freshen up without being a drooling neanderthal?

"You always amaze me Jane, all these bruises and you're focused on the freckles." Maura smiled back at her, of course not completely aware of the level of Jane's reaction but for herself the touch was so tender and erotic at the same time, her own nipples hardened as a second pass went over her skin. She closed her eyes again, enjoying the soft rush of endorphins that the touch released in her body feeling more relaxed by them then any of the narcotics she'd been prescribed.

"You just relax and enjoy your sponge bath." Jane encouraged the blonde as she carefully made sure to clean both round and under Maura's left and then right breast, smoothing the face cloth down and over her ribs in long light strokes, almost happy that the ME's eyes were closed so that she missed the fact that Jane was closing her own at times as she stroked the light pink cotton over the soft skin. Rinsing the cloth the brunette lightly began the soft process of washing the light suds from the recently cleaned area. "How am I doing?"

"You're doing perfect Jane." Maura's voice was rich and loving as her eyes opened again, the colour a deep almost golden green as a soft smile pulled at her lips. "I'm a very lucky fragile china teacup." She used the term they had settled on to describe her a few times at the hospital almost sentimentally.

"I wouldn't say that." Jane shook her head with a soft smile of her own slowly bringing the cloth back to the bowl to reapply the soap. "Lean forward a little for me." She asked smiling more as Maura did so immediately. Jane made short work of cleaning the expanse of Maura's back with broad strokes, working lower on it than she had on the blonde's front, want her to be able to lean back at any time if she wanted to. "Perfect." She drew the cloth around at Maura's waist to slide over her flat stomach briefly, but only on the way back to the bowl to rinse it off.

"You don't understand why I think I'm lucky do you?" Maura leaned back up to a neutral position while Jane worked to rinse and soap the cloth again watching the brunette's every move to see an instant shake of her head. "Most people don't get trusted enough to see this side of you Jane, to see and feel how tender and loving you are, how gentle and considerate you can be."

Jane looked at Maura for a moment and then let a smile pull at her lips.

"I only let you because you spend the majority of your day with dead people so you have no one to talk to me about." She smirked more.

"I'm sure that's the reason." Maura smirked back at her knowing the classic Jane deflection. "Should I lie back now?" She questioned knowing that most of her upper body felt fresh and clean now.

"Definitely." Jane nodded. "Right back onto the towel." She guided. "I have another ready to keep you all cozy warm."

"I'm fine, natural endorphins have a tendency to heat the body." She explained as she slowly leaned back and propped her head up as comfortably as she could on a second pillow. She had to admit to herself that she felt a soft flutter of anticipation in her lower stomach, even if she knew this wasn't meant to be an arousing activity considering it was Jane and not a stranger, it couldn't help but be anything but. "Are you hating this?" She asked in a soft questioning voice.

"No." Jane shook her head. "What's to hate?" She offered the 'natural' answer as she brought the cloth back to Maura's body and rested it on her hip. "Should I be?" She added drawing it down in one long stroke over the outside of Maura's hip and thigh to the blonde's knee and back up again, rubbing lightly across her low stomach.

"I would hope not, normally you wouldn't just..." Maura's voice continued to be tentative. "I know how you pay attention to details, seeing all of my injuries is bound to have made you angrier then I know you already are." She offered the soft explanation. "Could you super impose another image of me over the bruised parts?"

Jane stopped the pass of the cloth and put her hand lightly on Maura's thigh.

"You can't imagine how angry I am, how..." She stopped and clenched her jaw as she felt the wave of hot rage fill her for a moment before she pushed it away again. "But none of that anger changes how I see you." She shook her head a little. "It never could." She licked her lips trying to fight the myriad of things her body was feeling and her head was telling her to say and think to work out what exactly was the 'appropriate' approach in all of this. "Maur... if I thought I should... if I thought we could... this wouldn't be 'just' a sponge bath."

The hint of honesty made all of Maura's reluctance melt away as a soft smile pulled onto her face again.

"Tell me what you'd rather be doing?" Her voice dipped to a warm honey tone.

"Well..." Jane licked her lips again as she moved her hand again to wipe the cloth very low across Maura's stomach. "There wouldn't be a cloth in my hand as I did this."

"Because you'd rather just be touching me?" Maura eyes watched her, moving to lick her lips as Jane had almost in reflex though she was purposefully slower with the motion to be kind to her sore lip.

"Exactly." Jane nodded. "Touching you, feeling for myself that you're there, that you're still alive, still breathing, your heart is still beating with and for me." She slid the cloth a little lower to graze over intimate waxed skin.

"It is, I am." The blonde assured her in a spiced tone as the second lower shift of the cloth made her hips flare up softly.

"What I would rather be doing is showing you how much I love you." Jane offered swallowing as she pressed the cloth between Maura's legs, drawing it lightly back and forth trying to gauge a motion that was at least somewhere in the realm of 'cleaning'.

"Mmmm Jane... exactly why shouldn't we?" Maura asked the question after a soft moan had slipped out of her throat, her less injured leg sliding further up at the knee to open her body more to the brunette's hand.

"Because Dr. Bester said no strenuous activity." Jane forced herself to look up from the perfectly shaved, slightly sudsy curve of Maura's body and pressed the facecloth from it up the inside of the thigh that had slipped up to bend at the knee, in an easy up arc.

"Right, damn." Maura swore with a breath out of air, knowing that considering how worried Jane was about her considering the trauma she had suffered as well as how bad she could have been injured there was little chance the conscientious detective was going to be made to crack on such a direct instruction from her neurologist. "Mmmmm I'm sorry if being good is hard on you, as I plan on enjoying this as much as I'm allowed." She added teasingly closing her eyes again.

"I can just throw myself back in the shower." Jane blew up into her wet hair.

"Or..." Maura's grin grew. "Dr. Bester didn't say anything about you enjoying physical activity. After dinner I could..."

"That would be you engaging in activity." Jane pointed out with a soft smile at just how 'Maura' the comment was.

"I promise, all I will use is one hand." She held up her good hand and wiggled her fingers.

"And you can separate that from your circulatory system and your lungs and all that stuff." Jane made a vague body wide gesture with her free hand, knowing her googlemouth wasn't anywhere near as strong as Maura's but she'd made her general point. "Next you'll suggest I look after everything and you just spectate."

"Oooo is that an option?" Maura opened sparkling eyes.

Jane could have kicked herself for even saying the words.

"Can we get past the sponge bath before you think about dessert?"

"Yes darling." Maura put her head back and closed her eyes again resuming her relaxed position. "For the record, I love the colour your eyes go when you're aroused. Even if we 'can't' do anything... it feels fulfilling to know how much you want too, thank you." She said the last two words in a soft loving tone.

"Never forget it." Jane said softly stroking the cloth back down the inside of Maura's thigh.

-x-

Considering how traumatic and emotionally draining the last two days had been, all of the three women had retired to bed fairly early for them. Maura had drifted off quickly cuddled into Jane in her extra comfortable bed, the detective barely managing fifteen minutes before she'd also been pulled down into a comfortable sleep.

At least her sleep had been comfortable until she was pulled back to the real world by the soft sound of a whimper, then a scared mumble of words coming from Maura who had rolled onto her injured side in her sleep and now seemed to be curled up into an uncomfortable ball.

"Hey, hey, Maur..." Jane shifted instantly and moved to flick on a light, her voice low but loud enough to rouse someone close to her. "Wake up honey, it's a dream..." She encouraged, reluctant to touch her.

"Jannne..." The brunette's name slipped out of Maura's mouth but it was clearly not her acknowledging the detective, it was dragged out and pained as if whatever the content of her nightmare was it revolved around Jane.

"Maura..." Jane shifted closer to the blonde and reached to cup Maura's shoulder slightly. "Ease of that side love, you're hurt and having a nightmare, I'm here, right here." She put more volume into her voice.

Maura's whole body suddenly jumped, as she was forcibly pulled back to consciousness but it wasn't even the residual of the dream that assaulted her first, it was pain. She gave another whimper, though it was clear this time she was awake as she began to try and get off her injured side only to find her cast covered arm was trapped underneath her and the pain lacing through her side was making it hard to take the deep breaths her body seemed to want.

"Jane..." She managed to gulp out the word, feeling the brunette's hand on her shoulder. "Help me... please." Her voice was tight and high showing just how much of an issue she was having.

"I got you." Jane moved to slide her arm under Maura's back, instantly seeming to know that the blonde needed help in moving, drawing her up and off the mattress to her body and rolled them so that Maura landed not only on her 'good' side, but against Jane's body and not the mattress. "I got you, you're safe."

Maura didn't immediately give any answer, able to finally take bigger breaths she just tried to ride the wave of pain that seemed for a few moments to only get worse as blood flow came back into the limb that had been trapped under her. Within a few moments her body started to shudder slightly as she pushed her face into Jane's chest tighter, tears not making it any easier to breath as tried to deal with the combination of physical and emotional pain still flowing through her from the nightmare.

"Don't fight it, just let go, I've got you." Jane held on tight enough to give Maura comfort and support but not too tight as to constrict her attempts to breath. "I've got you my love." She dropped a kiss onto blonde hair.

Almost needing the permission from the only person who had the right to give it to her, Maura seemed to collapse into harder tears for a long few minutes before finally her emotions cried themselves out.

"I'm sorry." She apologized in a whisper. "You both need your rest. I just... I know it's a stupid statement, but I don't understand why this happened."

"There has to be a reason?" Jane shook her head softly. "Talk to me about it."

"I... I couldn't find you... the city was empty..." Maura tried to explain, her voice shaky. "I was running through the streets, and I would think I caught a glimpse of you but then you'd be gone... and there was something chasing me... and I tried to keep running, tried to find you... but I was getting tired, and sore and then I fell over the edge of something and I was in so much pain but I could hear something getting closer and I thought I heard you scream..." Her body gave a hard shiver. "Why is my brain doing this?"

"Maura, stop looking for why's okay." Jane shook her head and kept her strong hold on the blonde. "And deal with what's going on with you physically okay." She soothed. "I don't know anything about dreams, or anything like that but I have had my fair share of bad dreams, enough to know that sometimes we just have them because our bodies don't know what else to do." She kept close and tight to the ME. "Give yourself a break." She kissed her again and then nuzzled her nose lightly into her hair. "Maybe it's your way of kicking me out of your bed, you don't like being breathed on or something." She teased.

"No!" Even though the detective had clearly been joking the blonde's response was too fast and too absolute to underline anything other than it was the exact opposite of what she wanted. As it filtered into the deeper parts of her psyche that Jane had indeed been joking she made herself take a breath and titled her head up to look at Jane. "You've really had a lot of nightmares after you've been hurt?" She asked and saw Jane nod almost immediately. "I just don't understand why my nightmares could be doing this now..." She was about to go into another tirade of why's but then stopped herself. "I'm being impatient and unrealistic aren't I? Just because of what I know, it doesn't mean my brain can repair itself after a serious concussion any easier then the average person does it? Add to that my other injuries and that it's been less than 48 hours..." She gave a soft sigh and settled her head back down. "How do you do this all the time?"

Jane gave a soft shrug.

"I have you in my corner." She offered softly. "Oh and I grew up with Ma and Tommy and Frankie, come on, you think that was easy." She grinned brightly.

"I don't know what I would do without you, I would have went through this alone, no one would have even known I was missing..." Maura lamented gently. "Did... you call my Mother or Hope?" She asked suddenly the thought striking her for the first time.

"I wanted to ask you about it first." Jane admitted. "You hate being smothered."

"I do." Maura agreed with her easily. "And Mother is probably very busy... but... could you call them... I think they would want to know but you can reassure them I'm fine. If they hear it from you I'm sure they'll believe it more than if I told them."

"I will call them in the morning." Jane assured her. "If they want to come and stay for a while you want that?"

"No." Maura shook her head against Jane's breast. "I... does that sound horrible? I just... I'm not well enough for that kind of effort."

"I totally understand." Jane confirmed. "And I wouldn't have a chance at successfully cooking pigs feet, or whatever it is you do for your mother." She chuckled, holding Maura's slightly tighter.

"I would pay to see that." Maura actually gave a soft laugh and snuggled closer giving a soft yawn.

-x-


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

 **China Teacup: Part Seven**

"Jane!"

The moment Jane came out of the elevator towards the main reception Hope waved almost as if somehow the tall brunette would miss her in the nearly empty reception to the precinct. The idea was made even more ridiculous by the fact the woman as always as perfectly made up, her designer dress and expensive trench coat not typical for the precinct.

"I got your message and was in the area, you said it was serious, what on earth is wrong? I've been out of town the last few days on a conference, I just got in early this morning." Hope pressed immediately.

"Let's... grab a coffee..." Jane directed the older woman towards the cafe trying hard to play down the waves of anxiety that were being thrown around, thankful when she managed to get the other woman seated in the quieter room. "Three days ago Maura was injured in a hit and run incident while jogging." She began her explanation, her voice low.

"She was? Oh my... how badly? What hospital is she in?" Hope face instantly went pale.

"She was actually relatively lucky, she has a fractured wrist and a bad concussion, as well as being scratched and bruised up." Jane gave the brief run down. "She's home, my mother is looking after her." She explained further.

"Poor Maura." Hope continued to fret. "Is there anything I can do?" She asked immediately. "I was just running errands today, I can go right over and see her, check on her." She began to outline a plan.

"I think she would like that." Jane admitted with a smile. "She's just like any little girl I'd wager who's got a boo-boo." She offered the slightly un-Jane phrase. "A little mom love would work wonders."

"Then I'll head straight over to her house, thank you so much for calling me Jane." Hope acknowledged with a soft smile.

"Hope before you go..." Jane pushed up as the older woman had. "There is something else you should know..." She added. "Apparently it's common but..." She licked her lips, looking away as she continued. "Maura's memories are a little... jumbled..." She offered. "She doesn't remember the accident and..." She paused again. "She... she believes that her and I are..." She rubbed her hands on her thighs nervously for a moment before meeting Hope's eyes again. "Maura believes the two of us are a couple."

Hope made a small noise and then sunk back into her chair watching Jane match this move as well.

"She..." Hope began and blinked. "It is quite common if a concussion is serious enough, I assume her head injury has been fully investigated and this... jumble..." She used Jane's word. "Is just a side effect rather than a symptom of a more serious injury?"

"We insisted on having a double set of scans done to totally cover all bases." Jane nodded. "Dr. Bester seems convinced it's just a side effect." She nervously played with her hands. "We've been... playing along so that she's not having to worry about something else as well as having to focus on getting better..." She offered. "That is..." Jane countered herself hating how her words sounded, especially due to the reality of how she herself felt about the blonde and the revelations the whole situation had brought to the surface. "She doesn't know we're not."

"Maura believes that you and she are in a committed relationship and you haven't told her the truth?" Hope's framing of it didn't immediately give away her acceptance or dislike of the approach.

"The truth is that I love Maura." Jane pointed out. "And we might not be in the committed relationship she believes we are in, but I am committed to her, as committed to her as I have ever been to anyone."

Hope put her hand up to her forehead massaging it for a moment before she let out a soft sigh.

"As a doctor, I can't say I agree with this decision." She began softly lowering her hand and looking at Jane with another sigh. "When I first met you both..." The noise changed into a odd laugh. "I thought you were dating."

"Oh." Jane made the small noise as she looked from the doctor to the floor. "Well, it's been pointed out to me that I can be... protective and territorial when it comes to Maura."

"You shot Paddy Doyle because you thought he would shoot her." Hope pointed out with a soft smile. "I think protective and territorial is a small understatement Jane." She outlined gently. "So... how long have you been together then? How serious is it? I'm hoping some of these details would have been shared with me."

Jane smiled slightly relaxing.

"I'm not sure Maura's brain has filled in any of those details." She admitted. "Probably a couple of months..." She worked out logically in her own brain and aloud at the same time as her dark eyes came to meet with Hopes. "Because of the baby." She said quietly

"Baby?" Hope's face changed again to a look of shock. "Maura's pregnant?" 

"No, I am." Jane made a small noise.

"How on earth are you playing this ruse with the father of your baby Jane?" Hope asked clearly worried by the scenario. "I understand that you don't want to cause Maura any unnecessary emotional stress with what she's gone through but is this really a ruse that you can continue? Has it occurred to you that she may never 'awaken' from the fantasy that this concussion has created?" She put forward tentatively.

"I'm not with the baby's father, I wasn't with him when I found out about the pregnancy. He's serving in Afghanistan." Jane shook her head. "Hope." She looked at the older woman. "I love Maura." She dropped her voice a little. "I wouldn't care if she never 'woke' up." She admitted. "Other than the fact that I want this to be real."

"So what you're trying to confess to me Jane is that you are in love with my daughter?" Hope blinked at her trying to keep up.

"No, what I'm telling you now is that your daughter has been hurt in a serious incident and she needs you." Jane pointed out. "As a side bar I might be pointing out that as I result of this I might have worked out that I've realized just how amazing she is and the feelings I've always had for her go much deeper than I realized they did."

"Then let me point out that I want to help her in anyway I can Jane." Hope outlined with a soft smile. "And... that... honestly... I couldn't be happier to know that you've had this realization. I know it might be tainted by who he is but love is a very precious emotion to feel, it is complicated and challenging but a life without it is empty."

Jane pulled in a breath and nodded.

"You wouldn't have objections to us being together then?" She asked looking at the other woman.

"No." Hope let her off the hook quickly. "Jane..." She continue to smile softly. "I can't admit that I have always understood your relationship with my daughter but the one thing I didn't doubt is that the person that Maura trusts most in this world, looks to as her compass in situations where she feels uneasy or scared, is you. Why do you think I came to you all those times when I didn't know how to approach her?"

"Because I'm so easy going and approachable?" Jane smirked, knowing she was neither of those things.

"Clearly." Hope agreed with a laugh but then sobered. "I have to remind you however Jane, this is a slightly dangerous game you are playing. I have attended to many severe concussions in my career, disruptions in memory can disappear as quickly as they arrived, sometimes they don't ever dissipate and sometimes they evolve into other things. You need to be prepared for the emotional blow back that may come if she gets part or all of her memories back."

Jane sobered and frowned.

"What should I do? Tell her? Won't that just isolate her?"

"Right now yes it would, and since you've already accepted the misinterpreted memories simply telling her will cause a great deal of emotional trauma as well. For her right now simply telling her isn't going to just snap her out of it, it's likely to isolate her, make her feel the exact emotions of a break up but with the added stresser of being someone who is normally in tight control of her faculties but is now out of control." Hope had to agree. "Is she showing any other symptoms or side effects Jane?"

"Nightmares." Jane offered as a possibility. "Should I take her back to the hospital?"

"No." Hope shook her head immediately. "Nightmares are very common just after an accident let alone with that kind of trauma. Symptoms that would have me advise you to bring her back to the hospital immediately would be the obvious ones like loss of consciousness, seizures, inability to wake her from sleep, extreme changes in emotional expression such as aggressive outbursts or uncontrollable crying." She tried to reassure Jane. "That she has manifested a false set of memories isn't as uncommon as you would think, especially not with the patients I've dealt with. Trauma can have very unexpected effects on the human brain." She went on a little more. "I'm sure you've thought of this already but there is likely the reason that Maura's brain has jumped to the idea of this relationship is because she has had feelings for you for some time." She broached the next subject softly.

"I don't know what to think about that...I..." Jane stopped. "Go see her." She changed the subject with a quick shake of her head. "I really need to get to work." She admitted. "Call me later, tell me how your visit went, or stay for the day if you can or want to, I don't know how late I'll be here."

"I will head right over there." Hope agreed with a nod seeing Jane's sudden discomfort. "And I will make an assessment and call you." She offered knowing her training wouldn't let her do anything but. "Just Jane..." She pressed up as Jane tried to back away. "Thank you for telling me." She alluded to both the information about Maura being hurt and Jane's revelation.

Jane nodded and began to back up a little.

"Hope..." She stopped. "I'll do whatever is best for Maura, I always will."

"I know you will Jane." Hope gave her a confident nod. "I've never doubted that."

-x-

"Don't you just love it when a plan comes together." Frankie watched the uniform officers escort their suspect out of his apartment as he looked at his sister as she stood in front of the literal wall of computers Dustin Severn had in his apartment. The hit and run for profit mastermind had been sitting at the desk chair when they'd loudly knocked on his door and almost stupidly he'd come and answered it probably thinking there was no way for anyone to trace things back to him. The look on his face when he'd seen the group of officers was priceless enough. "Jane..." He saw that his sister hadn't taken her eyes off the screens and for a moment he waited for her to answer before he watched her slip into the chair and slip on a glove before she reached out for the mouse. "Jane, what the hell are you doing, CSU is on its way." He watched her start to move the mouse to file with the date of Maura's accident on it at the top of an open list. "Jane, you don't need to see that." He moved to put his hand on her arm.

"I want to see it." Her voice was steely and cold.

"Fine, but do it quick, this isn't the thing I want to lose our badges over." He grumbled turning to check where the other officers were.

Jane double clicked on the small file and then locked her jaw as she was faced with three different files, obviously unedited. She moved the pointer to the first movie file and opened it, her eyes never leaving the screen.

The file opened and was filled with the sounds of a car and two male voices, both of them making jokes and laughing as they traveled down the road. Then suddenly the driver announced that he'd seen the one, and the camera at that exact moment panned up and focused in on a figure Jane would know anywhere even though she was at least a few hundred feet away. She listened with gritted teeth as the driver explained he was going to wait until she crossed the road and clip her on the other side. The whole event playing out almost like clockwork, Maura jogged to the other side of the pedestrian walk out of the park and as her foot came onto the curb raised her arm to check the time just a moment before the car hit her.

She barely heard the sick noise that Frankie made behind her as she watched the impact buckle Maura first for a split second around the car and then send her flying off. As Jane had predicted the blonde put her left arm out to try and stop her fall, the limb not able to take the impact as then her body skidded further along the tarmac already limp and doll like.

Closing the file silently, Jane shut down the file and left the computer how she had found it, slipping away from the desk, her jaw still tightly locked.

"I need some air."

"I'll keep everything secure." Frankie nodded that he understood. "Just remember Jane, she's okay." He called after her.

-x-

"Jane, you're home." Maura was sitting on the couch, Angela having moved into the kitchen to get them both a cup of tea after a short argument that the blonde could get it for herself. She's only just awoken after a short nap, the visit from Hope having been unexpected and reassuring but still draining. She was completely surprised when the usually stoic detective didn't say a word but came straight across from the door to the couch where she was sitting, sunk down onto the cushion next to her and then pulled the blonde into her taller body.

It wasn't that the move was unwelcome or unpleasant but the small show did make her question what must be wrong with her girlfriend. She lightly closed her cast covered arm around the brunette as her good one was stuck between them.

"I love you." Jane eased briefly back smoothing one hand over blonde hair before moving right back to pull Maura close again.

"I love you too, Jane what's wrong?" Maura had managed to get her arm free in the second press and closed it around Jane's back holding her close.

"Janie, what is wrong?" Angela came over from the kitchen having gotten as bad a feeling from Jane's entrance as Maura had.

"Bad day." Jane made the rare admittance, her breathing slightly ragged as she just focused on the feeling of holding Maura in her arms, facing the fact that the blonde was alive and had survived the horror that replayed itself over and over in her head.

"I'm making tea but let me get you a beer." Angela pointed back to the fridge and began to move.

"Bad day?" Maura asked from her place waiting until Jane's grip loosened a bit to lean back enough to find dark eyes. "What happened?" She asked softly.

Feeling Maura move Jane did her best to pull herself together and moved back actually pushing herself back against the arm of the couch releasing her grip on the blonde altogether.

"It's okay, I'm okay." She withdrew into herself worried she'd been too extreme already. "I'll get a shower." She put her hand on the couch arm to push up off it.

"Jane no." Maura reached out stopping her from moving with a hand gripped around her forearm. "Talk to me." She urged her softly. "Please." She added in a soft voice.

"We got the guy who did this." Jane stopped herself from pushing up, managing instead to turn her head to look at the blonde.

"You did?" Maura had almost expected anything else to come out of Jane's mouth, a tale about a horrible triple homicide, probably that involved children, some of the hardest cases to work. "I... how? What did he do to upset you?" She found her brain extrapolating that something must have happened to have put Jane in this state.

Jane pressed her hand to her temple as she turned in her place focusing on the blonde, her face fixed in a grimace.

"You're the sixteenth person he's done this to." Jane looked into hazel eyes. "Him and his 'partner' do it for fun, for profit, they pick a vic, video the hit and then post the whole thing on the web to get hits, hits mean money. Taking the victims money and ID was just an add on that they decided on because Severn's partner knew a couple who had connections on the street with fences." She pulled in a breath. "One of their 'video stars' wasn't as lucky as you Maur, it's how I was able to be brought into it as a homicide case." She brought her up to speed a little.

"It wasn't an accident?" Maura focused on the unbelievable first fact but then her mouth pulled into an even deeper frown. "They killed someone doing this?" She put her hand up to her chest, her brain honestly going a mile a minute as the sketchy facts began to settle into her head. "Jane..." She stopped everything as one fact cleared in her head. "Did you... see the video?" Her eyes went wider.

"Oh God no Janie." Angela gasped from behind the couch where she stood holding the brunette's beer.

"I've seen all of them." Jane barely restrained the shiver that crawled up her spine.

"Oh Jane." Maura was the one that pushed forward this time, almost forgetting the pain in her own body as she moved both her arms as best as she could around the brunette and hugged them together. She didn't say anything else, not even able to imagine what it would be like to see person after person targeted and hit by a pair of internet obsessed thrill seekers. She couldn't even get her head around the idea that there was a video of her, that people, strangers would have been encouraged to watch it for their momentary shock or to share in the thrill of the perpetrators. More than that, she couldn't comprehend how Jane must be coping with watching that moment unfold in front of her on a screen. It was one thing to see something like this live, but to watch it second hand after living with the consequences must be unthinkable. "I'm alive." She said the words into Jane's ear and then pressed her lips to Jane's temple. "Do you hear me talking to you? Holding you? No matter what you saw I'm alive, right here with my arms around you."

Fat tears pooled at the corners of Jane's deep brown eyes and the slid down her cheeks as she held onto Maura desperately.

"I could have lost you." Her voice was broken and choked. "I so nearly lost you." Her body began to shake.

"But you didn't." Maura corrected her softly, reaching up with her good hand to stoke over dark hair. "I'm a little bruised but I'm right here." She leaned back enough so that she could press kisses against the streams of tears on Jane's cheeks.

"I'm sorry." Jane's voice was a whisper.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you caught the sick people that did this to me, that did this to all the innocent people they targeted." Maura reminded her. "And more than that... the first thing I remember is you Jane, you there touching my face in the hospital, your voice asking me to open my eyes, you... do you know what that means to me?"

Jane silently just shook her head, honestly at this moment not capable of much more.

"Jane, it means everything to me. You are the only person in my life who has never tried to change me, who has excepted every one of my idiosyncrasies, who has understood my emotional walls and respected my boundaries, you are the only person who has loved me so unconditionally that no matter what is going on I know that I have you, Jane Rizzoli in my corner and that you will fight kicking and screaming for me against even the biggest monsters like Hoyt." She said the name she rarely let grace her lips in direct relation to the two of them. "You are the woman I love, who I love unconditionally back, or at least I try to, the woman I try to love bravely and honestly because that is what she deserves." She took a soft breath. "And there is no one in the world I would rather have seen at that moment when I opened my eyes than you, because no matter how much I hurt and things didn't make sense, I knew if you were there I was safe, nothing could hurt me any more. You would never let them."

"I couldn't be this without you." Jane admitted.

"You are Jane without help from anyone." Maura shook her head and reached up to brush away a new tear. "But I like to think that you're a slightly better Jane because of me. I know I'm a much better version of myself with you, one filled not just with a drive for my work but with love and mirth and enjoyment of the things in life I never stopped to pay attention to before."

Jane just held on to the blonde for a moment, almost forgetting that her mother was actually still in the house let alone in the room.

"You could have lived without ever experiencing football season or reheated pizza." She pulled back slightly and smirked lovingly at Maura.

"Not now that I know both are things that bring almost unexplained joy to your face." Maura shook her head softly. "They are both integral to the tapestry that is our lives. Just like you suffering through Kale and post modernist art."

"One of those things I find tolerable by now." Jane felt herself relax even more, she reached up and tucked blonde hair behind Maura's ear. "I love you." She dropped her voice to a whisper before pressing her lips to the blonde's.

It was clear that if Maura hadn't of been too busy kissing her back that the doctor would have said the three important words back but considering the connection between them it could wait a moment or two.

-x-

"Was it horrible?" Angela asked softly as she finished cleaning up from dinner, Maura having gone upstairs to rest already or else it would have been impossible to keep her from 'helping' as the older Rizzoli had pointed out shooing her up the stairs.

"Yeah." Jane confirmed somewhat unnecessarily. "It was as bad as you can imagine it was." She sighed as she helped her mother mechanically. "I really don't want to talk about it Ma." She admitted with a frown. "It's just..." She shook her head. "How was Hope?" She changed the subject. "Did everything go okay with the visit?"

"Hope was lovely, she brought flowers." Angela motioned over her shoulder to the large bouquet. "I told Maura she should have them up in her room but she wanted them down here to encourage her to spend time out of bed." She recounted the conversation. "I think it's good that you warned her, Maura was particularly vocal about you when Hope made mention of it, and clearly her birth mother has enough sense to know my Janie is a catch." She bumped her hip into Jane's.

"Do I even want to know the kind of things that were said?" Jane groaned.

"Only if you want to hear how much she gushes about you, about how proud she of you, about how you transformed the hospital room into a home away from home, how you stayed right by her side all night..." Angela began with a smirk. "Though I'm not sure that Hope had thought ahead to realize that this makes her a Grandmother to be." She smirked more.

Jane groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I bet she didn't." The dark haired beauty admitted the omission the other doctor had likely made. "How has Maura been? Better today?"

"Yes, she's going to be fine Jane." Angela reassured her daughter. "You're not going to lose her." She added in a softer loving voice.

"I might not lose her from her injuries Ma, but we don't know what's going to happen when, if, her memories sort themselves out." Jane's face didn't even out remaining ultimately somber.

"Janie do you have to be the consummate pessimist?" Angela sighed softly. "Because if she gets her memory back and she's unsure about what is happening between you two, I'm going to be the first one to tell her about how beautiful you two are together, and remind what she felt on that couch holding you." She pointed. "Because what I saw was breathtaking." She leaned and without warning hugged her daughter.

"I love her so much." The brunette admitted. "But come on Ma, when do we ever get what we want?"

"You get it all the time baby." Angela smiled at her. "You wanted to be a cop, you became a cop, you wanted to get your detective shield, you got it, you wanted to be the youngest cop promoted to homicide, you were." She reminded her. "Now you want Maura, and you're going to get her." She urged her daughter. "Speaking of which, go see how she is, I can put away the dishes and leave her in your capable hands for the rest of the night. If you get called into work, call me."

"Okay." It was Jane that moved and briefly hugged her mother. "Love you." She added before she slipped away and made quick work of jogging to the bedroom, lingering in the doorway when she got there, just looking at Maura. "Hey, miss me?"

"Yes." Maura looked up at her with a soft smile that melted into a confused look. "When did we tell Hope?" She asked blinking at Jane.

"About what happened? Today, I called her like we discussed." Jane frowned as she moved into the room.

"No, not about that about us, about the baby." Maura blinked at her again.

"I don't know... maybe you told her in a call, you call her at least once every couple of weeks." Jane shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"It matters because I can't remember telling her, didn't I discuss it with you?" Maura grew a little more tense. "Telling her was a big step, I must have been nervous... how can I not remember such an important conversation Jane?" She put her hand up to the healthy side of her forehead. "How can I not remember? Have I told my mother? I can't remember telling her but does that mean I have or I haven't? Am I waiting to tell her in person? Have we talked about this?"

Jane put her hand up to the side of her head almost mirroring the blonde's positioning as she walked away from the side of the bed where Maura was sitting, her mind in total turmoil as to how on earth she should deal with this. Pulling in a breath Jane moved back to the side of the bed and then crouched down, moving to look at the ME keeping the eye contact that Maura instantly looked for.

"You can't remember telling Hope because I told her, I told her this morning." Jane explained. "I told her about the baby and about us."

"You did?" Maura blinked at her for another moment and then breathed out a long breath of relief. "That's why I can't remember." She seemed to calm with the idea. "She only found out today... how was she when you told her?" She seemed to fret in a typical Maura way about another angle.

"Maur, stop." Jane reached out and took hold of both of the blonde's hands.

"I... okay." Maura seemed to take a slow few breaths and held Jane's hands back, assuming Jane was trying to get her to focus on the fact that clearly from their interaction this afternoon Hope was fine, happy no less about the development.

The brunette let her tongue pass over her lips as she brought her head up to once again focus on the blonde again making sure not to lessen the light grip she had on her hands.

"Maur there is a reason, a good reason that things aren't making sense, that you're getting confused and that..." Jane stopped again. "Us, you and I..." She frowned again. "We're not...there is no us." She didn't release the ME's hands. "You can't remember details, specifics because they aren't there to remember or forget." She pointed out.

"Jane, what are you talking about?" Maura pulled her hands back almost shockingly fast as the brunette's odd admission tried to settle in her mind. "What do you mean there is no us... but..." Her hand moved up to lips.

"But I love you." Jane hurriedly added. "Which is probably not what I should be saying." She frowned at herself more than anything. "And I should have told you instantly but you were hurt and there was nothing 'bad' about being together. I didn't want to tell you, I didn't want to cause you any more pain, and I thought we could deal with the flash back when it happened." She forged on regardless of the pain that filled her own heart at that moment.

"I... I don't understand." Maura's brow crumpled in confusion despite her injury. "We're not together? This is all... a lie? Something my brain made up because of my concussion?"

"Because of the concussion your brain put you and I together." Jane said the words slowly. "But all of this is not a lie." She said the phrase with firm confidence. "Everything I have said, done and been to you in the last 48 hours, I have meant, with all of my heart." She pulled in a deep slightly staggered breath. "None of that was forced, faked or a lie." She shook her head very slightly.

"But... before I was hit... we weren't together? We were just friends?" Maura clarified and she watched Jane nod. "But when I woke up and thought we were together, you didn't want to hurt my feelings?"

"Honestly? When you woke up and thought we were together I was terrified that there was something really seriously wrong with you, because why would you want me?" Jane admitted with an eye roll.

"Jane, don't say that." Maura shook her head immediately to the negative assessment. "I just... I don't understand what you're saying. I trust you... you know I trust you and you're telling me one thing, but my brain, my heart is telling me another, even if there are huge holes in my memory."

"What is your heart telling you?" Jane reached behind her and pulled the laundry basket close enough to perch on.

"That I love you Jane, isn't that obvious?" Maura tried to arrange herself on the bed as she reached out to grab a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. "Some sick man hit me with his car to make a video and when I woke up all I knew was that the woman who I loved, who loved me, was there, having somehow guessed I was in trouble, because that is what she does."

"All of that is true." Jane's voice softened. "What I'm saying is, before the accident you and I hadn't taken the step to bring us together, we were all the things we are to each other, without the element of sexuality." She named the big point.

"I made you give me a sponge bath!" Maura put her hand over her mouth in shock and with a deep blush of shame coming to her cheeks.

"Actually I came up with that brilliant idea." Jane arched her eyebrow in guilt. "And Maura...please I need you to understand something I didn't until this happened. You didn't force any kiss, any touch, any contact that happened, if anyone did, I did... because I needed it, I needed the touch, the connection, because I wish my heart had been brave enough to decide what yours did."

"Come here please." Maura had let a few beats of silence come into the room before she held out her good hand to the Detective waiting to see if she'd take it.

Pushing up from the laundry bin Jane reached out, her hand shaking as she slipped it into the blonde's, shuffling forward slightly.

"My head hurts, my heart is confused." Maura admitted holding tightly to it. "I feel like I don't know up from down... I can't trust my mind right now and it is usually the thing that I have an unwavering belief in." She continued blinking hazel eyes at Jane. "You want this, you need this?" She ran her thumb across the back of Jane's hand, purposefully making sure to skim over the scar there knowing it was in its own way a test.

"I want and need you." Jane kept her hand completely still in Maura's not even flinching when fingertips grazed over the sensitive skin but nodded her head as she kept her eyes locked on hazel ones.

"Do you believe that the concussion made up everything I'm feeling?" Maura moved up onto her knees, ignoring the pain it caused in her lower body. She didn't stop moving until she was literally nose to nose with Jane, taking in every nuance of her reaction.

Tears sprang to dark brown eyes.

"I hope not." She replied, her lip trembling.

"When you came in today, when you said you realized that you could have lost me, you meant all of this didn't you?" Maura's voice was just as soft as she touched the tip of their noses together.

Jane nodded rubbing the tips against each other as a tear slipped from her eye onto her cheek.

"I love you Jane, if this is all made up by my head hitting the pavement I don't want it to ever fix itself again because I don't want to go back to a place where I don't know this feeling." Maura slipped her hand out of Jane's to cup it against the brunette's cheek. "The last two days no matter how much pain I felt, no matter how much confusion was in my brain, I had you, loving me, protecting me, making me feel perfect and cherished."

Jane couldn't help but lean ever so slightly into the soft touch on her cheek, her eyes closing briefly as she let herself press into the touch.

"I want it to fix itself because I hate the idea of you being a little messed up in there but..." She opened her eyes and focused again on the blonde. "If we don't want to lose this, then we won't." She shifted her freed hand but rather than touching the other woman as Maura might have expected her to, the brunette awkwardly pressed her hand into her pant pocket. "This isn't how I planned this..." She stopped. "Obviously because who would plan this like this, but.." She eased out of it a small obviously old black velvet box. "This is how much I don't want to lose this feeling Maur." She held the small box out towards the blonde.

"Jane." The blonde's repetition of the brunette's name came out in almost a squeak, after all her head might have had an unfortunate meeting with the pavement but she still knew a ring box when she saw one and she still knew what a ring box usually meant. She very slowly moved her hand down to Jane's letting the brunette keep a hold of it as she lifted the lid and revealed the antique gold and enameled band with its diamond solitaire within. Her eyes stayed on the ring for a long moment, studying every detail of it before they moved back to hold the detective's dark ones. "A woman with a concussion could find herself guessing what this is for." She gave a tiny smile as she rewarded the detective with the word 'guess'.

Jane's lips pulled into a similar smile at the turn of the phrase.

"Well you know I would normally die to hear you guess but I just can't risk you coming up with the wrong answer..." She scrunched up her nose slightly as she shook her head. "It's gold, and enamel, it's was made in Ireland in 1875, give or take a year or ten, the solitaire is 2.5 karats, and yes, we should insure it." Jane's smile evened to just a broad typical Jane one. "And it's an engagement ring Maura Dorothea Isles."

"And..." Maura made the small whispered prompt not yet daring to move to take the ring. "In less than forty eight hours you've realized that you want to marry me?" At first Jane just nodded.

"I knew before then that I couldn't picture my life without you in it, we'd already made plans about the baby, that you would raise her or him if anything happened to me, you were already everything to me just not..." She stopped herself from continuing with just a breath. "So yes, in just that time I realized that I had been an idiot and had the thing that made me happiest right beside me all the time." She nodded. "It's not sized." She added. "I only picked it up from the antique dealer today I was going to get a ring from your jewelry box tonight, take it to that jewelers you love get them to size it and clean it before I did any of this but..." She stopped again as she wiggled the ring free from its velvet cushion. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes Jane." Maura didn't make her wait, not caring about the uncertainty about her own sanity that the brunette's revelation had brought into her mind. This moment just felt so right, so perfect and it filled her with so much love she didn't need to process anything further than this was Jane and she knew Jane wouldn't do this if she didn't think it was the best thing for both of them. She moved to hold up her left hand and then realized suddenly again that it was in a cast giving a soft laugh. "I know I shouldn't have a ring on this hand but can we try it just for a minute."

"Of course." Jane nodded and with care she slipped the ring down over Maura's ring finger. It was a little loose but looked stunning with the contrast of bright gold and black enamel, contrasting with the sparkle of the brilliant diamond. "You could wear it on the other hand after I get it sized."

"I'm not taking it off now." Maura shook her head and looked down at it, somehow the picture perfect even with the black cast on her arm. "Oh Jane." She leaned forward and pressed her lips impatiently to the brunette's.

Letting the antique box slip from her hand Jane caught the blonde up in her arms and held her close pressing her lips back against the blonde's kissing her back with all the passion and emotion she could.

For the first time since she'd woken up in the hospital, nothing hurt and she didn't care about a single instruction from a doctor about what she wouldn't do. She let herself melt into the kiss, feeling how with all of the 'truth' on the table Jane was losing herself in the connection and before she knew it they had ended up on the bed with the brunette underneath her.

Jane wrapped both of her arms around Maura's body one hand staying low on the blonde's back, the other reaching high, almost between the ME's shoulders, as she angled her head to Maura's, kissing her far deeper than they ever had, her tongue lost in the other woman's mouth, winding around its partners as, her long fingers splayed out between the blonde's shoulder blades and pressed into the fabric of her top.

The blonde met the kiss with equal desire and urgency, feeling the arousal that had seemed sparked under the surface suddenly burning like a wild fire. She was aware of her cast only because it impossible for her to use both of her hands, and letting her light frame rest on Jane's as she let her good hand snake up over the front of Jane's stomach and side. She kept her left hand as tightly as she could, feeling the press of the ring into her skin that made all of this so real and surreal at the same time. A dream had come true, one she believed until Jane's revelation that she had had forever. But one thing she did believe in her confusion was that if in 48hrs Jane could come to this kind of 'epiphany' then it was more than probably that her head injury had helped her do the same thing.

It was Jane that breathlessly pulled her lips off from the blonde's, blinking literally glittering brown eyes at her as she brought her into true focus.

"Oh no, we can't do this..." She tried hard to stop the almost rhythm constriction of her hands against Maura's back. "No... strenuous... activity..." She said between peppering kisses against Maura's neck.

"I'll write me a note if you want a doctor's okay." Maura grinned leaning her neck so that there was more available for Jane to reach as the feel of the brunette's lips on her skin made her boldly press her hand up under the edge of Jane's shirt and start to glide her hand over warm skin.

Jane left a soft moan slip from her lips, her skin literally feeling a trail of fire following Maura's hand.

"Maur..." The blonde's name fell from her lips in a tone the blonde had never heard Jane use before, it was thick and honeyed, deep and rich, spiced with heavy arousal as with just the touch the lithe brunette arched under her into the touch.

"Jane." Maura repeated her name back in a similar thick and aroused tone, feeling empowered by the feel of the ring on her finger and all the emotions she'd witnessed in the brunette to press her hand up higher to cup around the practical cotton bra that the detective was wearing, a soft groan timed to match as her hand squeezed to its tightest point and then contracted again.

At the blonde touch Jane instantly meshed their lips back together, sliding her hand higher up Maura's back, to cup the back of her neck lightly, pressing her tongue deep into the blonde's mouth, arching her back pushing her pert breast into the ME's hand.

Instantly Maura pressed herself into the kiss just as instantly, arching her hips down into Jane's at first the move was nothing but pleasure as she began to push her hand at the same time past the soft cotton barrier but despite all that she wanted, despite her commitment to what they were doing the flex of muscles and skin sent a sudden flare of pain down her side that she just couldn't ignore. Her body hitched in the arch, staggering against Jane's as her had stopped its movement abruptly and the same time she was forced to pull her mouth back from Jane's to keep herself from gasping in pain against her fiancee's mouth.

"Sorry..." She had meant to return instantly to the kiss, but as she tried to straighten out of her body it resisted, as did her leg that she had leaned some of her weight on that now protested holding her aloft.

"No, no..." Jane shook her head, instantly changing the hold she had on the blonde to a more supportive one, and in the next moment she had turned them on the bed and Maura found herself against the mattress, carefully cradled against the soft sheets and a pillow, Jane was more beside her than on top of her and though one of the detective's arm was around her back, the other was not across her body, but instead stroking gently over her stomach. "There, this is better, you, laying down, like you should be." She pointed out, her voice a little strained in its control. "Me, being good, like I should be." She offered the blonde a loving smile. "Tea cup." Her smile melted into a fuller one. "Though..." She arched her eyebrows high. "You are... hawt." She grinned.

"So are you." Maura grinned back at her. "I..." She was about to tell Jane how she was sorry that clearly though she wanted to, so very much, to be intimate with the brunette her injuries weren't exactly healed enough for that to be 'advisable' just yet. "As soon as some of this heals, I'm going to show you how hawt you are." The slang word sounded even more comical coming from Maura.

Jane grinned brightly and moved her hand carefully from behind Maura's back and lightly took Maura's cast covered hand, bringing it to her lips, lightly kissing the ring that adorned Maura's finger.

"Believe me, I can hardly wait."

"Jane..." Maura's voice sobered softly for a moment as she watched Jane slowly draw her lips back from the ring on her finger. "If..." She felt a thread of fear overtake her suddenly. "If something happens because of the concussion and I wake up not remembering any of this, tell me it all again, remind me why I wear this, tell me about how much you know I love you and the baby, tell me about how you figured out that you love me and want to spend the rest of our lives together."

Jane nodded softly in a silent promise but then licked her lips.

"I promise." She whispered before taking the blonde's injured hand and lightly placing against her stomach. "You ready to be a mommy?" She blinked soft brown eyes at her.

"Yes." Maura's lip actually quivered as the reality that this came along with the idea of marrying Jane cleared in her head. "Do you really want to share her with me?"

Jane nodded instantly.

"I couldn't do it without you." She admitted without hesitation. "Mrs. Rizzoli." She whispered the phrase.

"I love you Mrs. Rizzoli." Maura leaned the short distance to kiss her in a feather light meeting of their lips but still the contact made a roll of pleasure go through her that made her release a content sigh.

-x-

… **thank you so very much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. Not sure yet if we're going to go any further with it but we felt good about getting the truth in the open for Maura and letting Jane make her case about what she was feeling.**


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